Conflict in the Past
by Bluestar498
Summary: A rival family has targeted Vongola Primo, and upon request from the Vindice themselves, Tsuna along with Reborn have to stop them before something happens to Giotto. It would probably be easier if they didn't have to worry about time paradoxes though...
1. Problem in the Past

A/N: And here would the new fanfic I'm doing. -w- To those who haven't read 'The Flame That Crosses Dimensions', note that this will be very slightly connected to it, but hardly at all. You really don't need to read the other story to understand this at all. I don't even actually need to tell you this actually. Meh. Anyways, this is my first time writing most of these characters, so please, tell me if I'm messing up their personalities!

Warnings: Light swearing, occasional failed attempts at humour, and possible OOC. Hopefully I can avoid the last two though. OTL

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. That belongs to Amano Akira. Seriously, if I did own it then I would have forced them to continue the anime. And translate the games. And have already have Tsuna sent to the past.

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_**The only information you need to know before reading this is that Tsuna faced off against the boss of an enemy family (the Serato) in a different dimension, and has already defeated him, encasing him in ice. Besides that, no prior knowledge is needed. ^^**_

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"Too slow, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna halted as once again he felt the cold press metal against his head, and the tell-tale sound of a gun being cocked. He stayed that way for a few moments, not even breathing, before the pressure lessened and he heard the guns safety click back into place. Reborn jumped off of Tsuna's shoulder and back onto the ground, as the brunette let out a defeated sigh, relaxing after the tense battle stance.

"Hmph, you've improved certainly improved a lot at fighting without your dying will, Dame-Tsuna. But still, you could still use some improvement," Reborn commented as Leon shifted back into his usual form, before placing the chameleon back onto his usual place atop the fedora. Behind him Tsuna's breathing was returning to normal since he could now take a break, rather worn out from the training, which had started at least three hours ago.

Tsunayoshi Sawada is the tenth boss of the Vongola, though he has yet to officially take over from the Ninth as he's only 16, two years having passed since he met Reborn. After he had hit 15, the Arcobaleno had started to train him to fight with his standard strength, or in other words, without having to go into normal or hyper dying will mode. A year later now, he was a competent fighter, and his performance in sports had even gone up a bit.

The two years had done little to his appearance though. His eyes were still the large brown ones, though had narrowed ever so slightly after everything that had happened since he met Reborn. His hair was slightly longer, but ever the untameable spiky mass. Unfortunately, he had only grown a few inches, and remained very much the shortest boy in his grade, even slightly short compared to some of the girls. The training he had gone through hadn't done much to rid him of his lithe form either, though by no means was he weak despite his looks. He had matured over the years as well, no longer panicking over everything, though not by much. He was still very much 'Dame-Tsuna', and it would be a while yet before he rid that title, something that Reborn liked to remind of almost constantly.

Sighing again, Tsuna opened his mouth to reply to the half compliment, half insult, but halted as he felt a twinge in his head, the feeling he always got when his hyper intuition picked up on something. Straightening slightly, brown eyes scanned the area though nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He tensed slightly in preparation, and beside him, Reborn noticed the changes in his student, and knew not to take Tsuna's hyper intuition lightly, recognizing the signs that that was what had him alert.

"Dame-Tsuna, what is it?" he asked as Leon transformed into a gun again while the infant jumped back onto Tsuna's shoulder to give him a higher vantage point.

"I'm not sure, Reborn. Something's going to show up very soon, but I can't tell what," Tsuna replied, slight nervousness showing through, but he tried to hide it with a calm face like Reborn taught him. It was silent for a few seconds, but suddenly a dark portal opened in front of the duo, causing Tsuna to jump and Reborn to blink in surprise as they recognized the darkness.

Just like they thought, four black-cloaked figures appeared moments later, all donning black cloaks, hats, and bandaged faces as well as hands. The only one who stood out would be the person in front, as the bandages were disarrayed enough to show an eye, and messy black hair came out from underneath the hat. On his shoulder sat a smaller member, the only major difference aside from size being the clear pacifier hanging around his neck. Behind them the portal closed, and Tsuna as well as Reborn were slightly relieved to see that law enforcers held no chains, hopefully meaning that they weren't here for a fight or punishment.

"Vindice," Reborn greeted, pushing his fedora up a bit in acknowledgment, though his coal black eyes still remained wary as he looked at them, the last time seeing them being during the Shimon battles. Reborn could feel Tsuna rather tense beside him, but the brunette made no move to do anything, regarding the others.

"Greetings, Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun and Reborn-kun," Bermuda greeted back with a small nod.

"It's good to see you again, Decimo, Reborn," Jager added in, while the two Vindice behind them remained silent per usual.

"Likewise. What brings you here?"

Reborn quickly got straight to the purpose, not wanting to delay finding out knowledge. Though the Vindice seemed rather friendly, they weren't people who just came to say hello, and he knew something was up. Bermuda laughed lightly, but answered just as promptly, easily able to see the unease from the two, even as Tsuna remained silent.

"Straight to the point like usual, Reborn-kun. Unfortunately, this is indeed not just a visit. Rather, we need your help for something that we can't interfere with."

The words seemed to bring Tsuna's voice back, as he also spoke up.

"You can't interfere with? How can there be something the Vindice can't intervene in?" he asked, wide-eyed, and beside him Reborn frowned slightly.

"I agree. The Vindice are the law over anything concerning mafia. No one is allowed to stop you from doing your tasks."

"That is usually the case, Decimo, Reborn. But not this time, otherwise we wouldn't be seeking your help. You remember the Serato family I'm sure," Jager began, and Reborn and Tsuna were surprised to hear the name. Ever since Tsuna had defeated their boss, Enrico Shalet, two years ago, they hadn't heard anything about the family, and had thought it disbanded at least a year ago. Bermuda nodded in agreement, and continued.

"It would seem that news of Enrico's defeat had reached them somehow roughly a year back, probably from a member that managed to get back to this dimension. We assume that it was made clear to them then that they couldn't defeat the tenth Vongola boss, what with the defeat of Enrico and all, so they had to go with an alternative to take down the Vongola. Instead of attacking the present, it appears that they are targeting the past."

Tsuna's eyes widened at that, and even Reborn couldn't help but feel a bit shocked at the news, though he quickly put his calm mask back in the place again.

"How far back?"

There was a moments silence, before Bermuda answered the question.

"Roughly four hundred years ago, the time of Vongola Primo."

The one sentence was met with silence from the other party, who were quite shocked. When it finally computed, Tsuna opened his mouth about to give his usual scream, but was stopped as Reborn shot him a glare that could rival Hibari's, the brunet managing to calm down somehow, or at least enough to work out his thoughts.

"B-but, this Vongola Primo we're talking about. He should be able to f-fight against them, and Enrico wasn't overly strong either, so I doubt his subordinates could be that strong," Tsuna managed out, and Bermuda looked at him for a moment, before answering.

"Ahh, normally that would be the case, but Giotto can't match up against weapons from our. Don't underestimate his subordinates either, they're quite strong, plus the one who was sent back was none other than Enrico's right-hand man. It also seems that the Serato have already gone into the future and taken box technology back with them, something which I'm sure you both know can only be defeated with other box weapons in most cases, basically impossible to try and get rid of with only your own strength, especially if you haven't seen them before."

Tsuna nodded in agreement to that, remembering what had happened when he and Gokudera had first met Lal Milch, easily being taken down by the pyramid prison and centipede box weapons she controlled. Reborn adjusted his fedora a bit, a look of thought on his face.

"Hmm, I understand what you're saying, but why can't you interfere?"

"While Vindice are free to imprison anyone, even going across dimensions, we aren't supposed to interfere with the past, even if the people we need to arrest are from our time. Once in a different time period, we can't do anything to them, and the past Vindice can't interfere with the Serato either, as they are from the future. While time travel doesn't go against any laws set down, it's unknown what can happen when they disturb the past, and it can have major effects on the present, easily breaking mafia laws as well. Thus, we need an outside force to help, and as it's the Vongola they're targeting, the best choice is the Vongola Decimo," Jager finished.

"W-wait, you mean, you want to send my famiglia back into the past to stop the Serato family?" Tsuna stuttered out in shock, the task seeming rather daunting to the 16 year old.

"No, only you, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Sending back too many people could make the situation worse, especially with your guardians' brash actions," Bermuda replied.

"I can't accept this then. Who knows what would happen to my dame-student if he was left alone in the past," Reborn cut in, frowning slightly, and Tsuna couldn't help but look at him in hope.

"Reborn…"

"I request to come with him."

"…" And the hope of getting out of the situation was instantly crushed, as the brunette felt a sudden urge to crouch in a dark corner. Bermuda and Jager seemed to consider the request for a few moments, before speaking up.

"Very well. So long as no one else comes, we can allow you to go back. Know that you can't give out too much information though, unless you want to risk a time paradox."

"Eh? T-time paradox?"

"Baka-Tsuna. If you give out too much information to them, even something like who you are, if you're from the future, things like that, it can change the future, or in other words our time. Your entire existence could be erased, as well as others. Time traveling to the past is very dangerous because of this, and we'll have to be careful unless we want to ruin a lot of things. Some people would also refer to this as 'The Butterfly Effect', with the idea that even if one butterfly is killed in the past, then it can change everything that should have happened."

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a deep sense of dread hearing that, now knowing the full implications of the risks. However, if nothing was done, then the Vongola would be destroyed, and probably his family line as well if they killed Primo either way, so there wasn't too much of a choice. Letting out another sigh, he reluctantly nodded.

"Thank you, Reborn-kun, Tsunayoshi-kun. We have means already to make a portal between the two time periods, and we advise you leave now, before the Serato can do anything, though not much is known about what their plans are right now."

One of the Vindice handed Jager a brown cloth bag as Bermuda talked, and he tossed it to Tsuna, who barely managed to catch it, surprised at the weight.

"The bag there contains everything that you will need in that time period, at least for a while. Accommodations will have to be figured out on your own, as well as money once you use up what we've provided you with."

"B-but, don't I need to inform the ninth and my guardians about what's happening? And I can't just disappear on Okaa-san…"

"The ninth and your guardians will be informed by us, Decimo. Also, the time passage will be different between the eras. While a week will have passed back in the past, it will only be a day here. As it is, though we found out about the Serato Famiglia's plans yesterday, they have already had a week back in Primo's time, which is why we can't delay anymore," Jager cut in, immediately quieting Tsuna's questions, the brunette only nodding again.

Bermuda raised a hand, and after a second, what almost looked like a rip in the air appeared beside Reborn and Tsuna, the inside an almost murky looking dark purple and black colour. Tsuna could feel a tug coming from it, like gravity was trying to draw him in, but he paused as Bermuda called out.

"Again, I must thank you and Reborn-kun for helping. And also, good luck. We'll come to you if you need desperate help, though it will only be when we deem it necessary."

"Hopefully we won't need it, Bermuda. We'll be going now," Reborn responded, and before Tsuna could add anything in, the infant sent a harsh kick to his head, sending him toppling into the portal as he jumped through himself. Just as the hitman got through, the portal closed with a snap, leaving behind nothing more than a few flames which quickly dispersed.

"Well, do you think they'll be okay, Bermuda?"

"We'll have to see, Jager-kun. Though I do trust that with the two of them, it should be okay. After all, they aren't Vongola Decimo and the world's best hitman for nothing."

A portal opened around them again, quickly transporting the two nameless Vindice, as Jager and Bermuda also made their way into it.

"Come though, we must inform the rest of the Vongola, as promised," the Arcobaleno finished, and the murky portal also consumed them, evaporating into the trademark flames until the entire area was left empty.

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A/N: Well, was that good? I hope it wasn't too rushed; it certainly was before I revised it, and even now I'm not sure. OTL Yes, so Reborn and Tsuna will be the ones travelling back in time. :3 And a good movie (originally a short story that wasn't as complete) to watch if you want to know more about the butterfly effect is 'A Sound of Thunder'. It's more of a thriller, but really great, and this is coming from a complete scaredy cat who hasn't even had the courage to ride a roller coaster yet. OTL (Yes, I am that pathetic.) Anyways, please review and tell me what you did and didn't like about it. I always want to know about people's opinions! I just hope Bermuda and Jager were in character… The next chapter should be up soon, but until then, ciao!


	2. Arrival and Escape

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I couldn't write the last few days because I was at the local anime convention. I cosplayed as Colonello and managed to find a Lal Mirch. So happy. -w-

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Tsuna's eyes immediately squinted from the bright light. After Reborn had kicked him into the portal, he had been surrounded by the black and purple flames, and it had almost felt like he was in some kind of sludge whenever he tried to move around, the flames dragging at him. He hadn't been able to see Reborn either, but trusted that the infant was behind him somewhere as he clutched the bag from Vindice.

A few seconds later, he noticed an ovular shaped lighter patch in front of him, and his intuition immediately told him that that would be the exit from the dark place. Upon reaching the portal, he had been unceremoniously dumped into a tree, only to fall off of it and land painfully on the ground. Now though, he could barely see anything since it was apparently mid-day in the place, and thus very bright out, a large contrast from the flame transportation. Blinking his eyes rapidly, the light eventually grew bearable for him to open them fully, though he had to wonder if they were still working right. Surrounding him was a lush forest, the trees full with green leaves like they would be in the summer, or perhaps late spring. There wasn't a single sign of buildings or anything around him, and Tsuna had to wonder if something went wrong with the Vindice's portal.

"Wha-?"

Tsuna's voice was immediately cut off as a hand clamped over his mouth, and he felt himself being pulled back into a man's chest. He froze in shock, and soon a low baritone voice was heard, though it was hushed.

"Dame-Tsuna, you need to be quite. If we're caught like this, then we'll definitely be in trouble."

With that said, he was released from the man's grip, and Tsuna hurriedly turned around to see him, though it wasn't exactly what he expected. The man was definitely tall, easily a head above Tsuna. He wore a clean black suit with a yellow dress shirt underneath, that matched the stripe going around his black fedora. Narrowed, dark eyes seemed to watch Tsuna with amusement, one of them shadowed by the fedora, and a smirk was pulling up his lips. Black, rather spiky hair could be seen from underneath his hat, and his sideburns were curled upwards. On his hat a green chameleon rested, looking at Tsuna curiously. The man was definitely handsome, even Tsuna could tell that, and for some odd reason he felt like he knew the man.

"W-who, what, eh?" Was all Tsuna managed to stutter out, eyes showing clear confusion.

"Chaos, Dame-Tsuna. You really are dame not to be able to recognize your own tutor, huh?" the man mocked, and Tsuna's eyes suddenly widened in realization, and something seemed to click.

"W-wait. R-Reborn? What? But, you're at least 22 or so right now. How d-did you age 20 years from going back in time by 400?" he exclaimed incredulously, only to be met with a harsh blow to the top of his head.

"Dame-Tsuna, I already told to keep it down. I'll save the explanations for later. The Vindice's portal seems to have dropped us off in the Vongola forest, or in other words the land surrounding the Vongola mansion, though this appears to be the one in Sicily, as it wasn't until later that the one in Venice was made the main building. Either way, if someone catches us here, we'll be labeled as enemies and would be attacked at sight, no doubt to kill. Right now we need to focus on getting away, okay?"

Tsuna immediately nodded, not wanting to have to deal with trying to dodge bullets and being labelled an enemy by his own famiglia, even if it was 400 years in the past. The brunette blinked in surprise though as the brown bag was suddenly tugged out of his hands, him having forgotten about it until Reborn took it. The hitman crouched onto the ground, and began taking out and laying everything on the ground. The first thing he took out was a bundle of clothes, looking to be plain black slacks, a white dress shirt, as well as some black shoes and a tie.

They found their way to Tsuna's face suddenly, and the brunette removed them, sputtering slightly, all the while wondering why Reborn couldn't just hand the clothes to him.

"Change into those. If you wear modern clothes around here you'll stand out way to much. They also seem to be made of flame resistant material, like the clothing Leon makes."

Knowing better than to question him, Tsuna hurried to comply, though he moved a bit away since it felt rather awkward to strip in front of Reborn in this form, much to the hitman's amusement. The clothes actually fit perfectly on Tsuna much to his surprise, though he figured Vindice would of course have some way to get his measurements. The tie was just laying in his hands though, since he didn't exactly like the restricting fabric, not at all due to the fact that he couldn't figure out how to put it on. Really.

Reaching the space in front of the supplies again Tsuna looked down, seeing that Reborn had taken everything out, and probably had finished a while ago. A smaller cloth bag was lying open, and he caught a shimmer of gold, no doubt money to use since yen would be rather useless in past Italy. He noticed Reborn's suit laying on the ground neatly folded, and was rather surprised to see that he too wore an outfit matching Tsuna's, though his familiar fedora still rested on his head. Tsuna opted to place his clothes and tie beside them. A box of matches lay on the ground as well, what looked to be a folder holding papers – perhaps some mission details – a first-aid kit, and also…

"A-a gun?" Tsuna exclaimed, shocked as he stared at the rather long brown pistol, obviously an older style as the main shaft seemed to be made of wood, and Reborn only nodded. Picking it up, the black haired man looked over it a bit, seeming to check ammo – there was a box of bullets on the ground as well – before nodding again to himself and holding the gun out to Tsuna, the handle facing him.

"W-wait, why are you holding that out to me? I don't know how to use a gun! I don't think I could even shoot someone!"

In reply Reborn decided to throw the heavy weapon at Tsuna's head, hitting his forehead dead centre with an audible sound. His head now throbbing again, he barely caught it before it fell to the ground, though he nearly dropped it in horror anyways if it weren't for Reborn's warning glare.

"You can't use your dying will here Tsuna unless you absolutely have to, and you can only get so far with hand to hand combat against people trying to kill you with their own weapons. Now shut up and take it."

Tsuna tried to argue, but knew that Reborn was right. Frowning, he held it uncertainly, not sure what to do with it as Reborn put everything back into bag. Sighing, the taller man shook his head in exasperation before taking the gun, double checking that the safety was on and sticking it into a gun holster that he put around Tsuna's waist, rearranging his shirt to make sure that it covered it before straightening it up.

"We should get going now then. We're pretty close to the front gates if I'm correct, though I could be easily wrong since the forest would have vastly changed in our time."

With that said, Reborn started walking forwards as he slung the bag over his shoulder, his steps long and confident, leaving Tsuna behind to try and scramble after the much faster hitman, having to nearly jog to keep up with his shorter legs. Sighing, he just hoped Reborn was right.

It turns out that indeed, the forest had changed a lot, as they had been walking for over an hour now. Even if Reborn was the world's best hitman, Tsuna was beginning to doubt that Reborn had any clue where they were.

"Think something like that again and you'll have more to worry about then the guards, Tsuna," he suddenly spoke up, and Tsuna just managed to stifle a scream. While Reborn had been scary in his infant form, right now, he was absolutely terrifying.

"Reborn! Do you have to keep reading my mind?"

"I'm not reading your mind Dame-Tsuna."

"Yes you are!"

"You're just easy to read."

"You aren't even looking at me!"

"Doesn't mean I can't see you."

At that Tsuna just closed his mouth, knowing that he wouldn't win against Reborn, and also deciding that it was probably better to not ask how he could see him when Tsuna was walking directly behind the man. He was soon lost in thoughts, mainly regarding the mission, so he didn't notice when Reborn suddenly stopped, resulting in him walking into the firm back.

"Rebo-?"

Tsuna was cut off as Reborn put a finger to his lips, indicating that he should keep silent, and he immediately complied. Leaning over slightly, Tsuna saw with quite a bit of surprise that in front of them the trees ended and a large cobblestone clearing began, the far side hosting large metal gates as well as a high wall.

Huh, apparently Reborn did know where we were.

Unfortuantely, Vongola guards were also stationed there, meaning that if they went out carelessly they would instantly be spotted. Luckily enough though the only people in area oddly enough seemed to be the family members posted at the gates and three patrolling the pavement, and Tsuna guessed that the others were spaced throughout the mansion which he spotted through a few more trees to the side.

Looking up at Reborn who was also regarding the area, he silently asked 'what now' as Reborn turned back to him. All he got in reply was a smirk, before Reborn suddenly took off, skimming around the pavement. Tsuna gawked for a bit, before shaking himself and sighing, figuring that the hitman wanted him to stay there, though he couldn't help but wonder where he was going.

Tsuna didn't have to wait long for his answer though, as he heard a bomb go off, followed by some rounds of gunfire and he swore he also heard a tree fall. The Vongola guards immediately were alert, shouting something to each other before taking off, a few others coming out of the mansion as well, though none others followed, one of the guards also staying behind to keep on guard at the gate. Tsuna mentally facepalmed at the fact that of course Reborn's solution would be to blow things up and cause chaos for the guards, probably wasting a few hours as the searched the whole forest for someone who wouldn't even be there.

Tsuna jumped though what looked like a dart of some sort suddenly hit the guard's neck, and he swayed a bit before collapsing, the brunette hoping that he was only knocked out. A large hand suddenly gripped his wrist and began tugging him towards the gate at a fast pace, and he looked up to see Reborn's back. He was forced to sprint to keep up with the jog Reborn had set, but at least they were swiftly making their way towards the exit, the men's shouts a distance away. He sighed in relief as they were only three meters away from the gate, but suddenly they had to screech to a halt to avoid being trampled.

7 horses charged into the gate entry, having been blocked by the surrounding wall as Reborn and Tsuna had run at an angle. Each had one man on top of them, and Tsuna and Reborn would have run right into the animals if they had kept going. The riders pulled the horses to a stop at the mouth of the gate, seeming to look rather shocked at the sight of the two intruders, and one of them jumped off their own mount to check over the guard on the ground. But the shock the group felt couldn't possibly compare to Tsuna and Reborn's after they recognized them.

"P-P-Primo's g-generation…" Tsuna stuttered out quietly with wide eyes, while Reborn's words, or word, perfectly described the situation they were in right now, though his face was only marked with a very small frown.

"…Fuck."

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A/N: Well, how was it? Good? Bad? Reborn completely out of character? Sorry for the wait. You can blame Otafest and harp for that. OTL Anyways, thank you to everyone who added this story to their favourites, alerted it, and especially those who reviewed. Please tell me what you did and didn't like about the story! Until next chapter though, ciao!


	3. Confrontation

A/N: Just in case anyone is wondering, this is indeed 400 years back, but is more reminiscent of the Victorian era. I've tried to get an accurate date, but failed, and nearly drove myself insane doing so. The time Amano Akira has depicted has elements from 400, 600, and 200 years back all in the one timeline. So yeah, I'm just disregarding complete accuracy of history and technologies right now. ^^'

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The two sides stared, either with shock, surprise, suspicion, or just plain anger. No one moved as they regarded each other, the larger group trying to figure out if the people in front of them were enemies, while the other had one panicking person and one trying to figure out how the hell they were getting out of this.

In front of Tsuna and Reborn was Vongola Primo and his guardians, apparently having been out, and of course had to chose this exact moment to return to the mansion. Tsuna recognized the man who was checking up on the guard as Knuckle, the sun guardian. His hair was a black colour and spiky like Ryohei's, though definitely longer. He wore black robes with a gold trimming, black pants, matching shoes, and over his shoulders a red scarf was draped, reaching down as far as the end of his robes. His eyes were a dark honey-brown colour and were filled with slight concern as he looked over the guard, and a white bandage was placed over his nose.

Directly in the center of the group was of course Primo in all his glory. Spiky golden hair styled like Tsuna's waved slightly in the wind, and surprised sky blue eyes looked at him and Reborn. He wore a formal black cloak that was open, revealing a grey and pale black pin-stripe suit, the cloak being chained together and adorned with a few gold ornaments.

To his right was G, the storm guardian and Giotto's right hand man. He wore a dull white dress shirt with a few buttons undone, a pale green tie also hanging around his neck loosely, brown pants, and two white belts, one looking more for decoration or perhaps for holding something. His hair was a very pale red, more of a pink than anything, though his eyes were darker. A tattoo that resembled a storm flame came from under his collar and up to his eye on the right side, and he also wore a necklace with a small crystal at the end.

On Giotto's left was Asari, the rain guardian. The man wore traditional Japanese clothes, which were white with blue underneath. Black hair was hidden by a tall hat of the same colour that was held in place by a string done up under his chin, and his eyes were a warm brown.

Beside Asari was Lampo, easily recognizable with his green hair, very much resembling 15-year-old Lambo's style. His right eye was closed, but his other revealed them to be an almost electric blue colour, and a black lightning bolt was tattooed beneath his closed eye. He wore a simple white shirt with leather ties around the cuffs, blue pants, and had on brown shoes, unlike nearly everyone else's black ones.

Next to Lampo was Daemon Spade himself, and Tsuna fought not to react at the sight of him. The man still had the melon styled, blue hair, and his eyes were also blue, though a darker shade. Unlike in the future, he currently wore a blue French military styled jacket, white pants, and black boots.

Opposite Daemon was where Knuckle would usually be, and in between the empty horse and G was the cloud guardian, as well as founder and head of CEDEF, Alaude. He had platinum blonde hair styled like Hibari's, albeit a bit messier, and wore a closed dark grey trench coat as well as matching pants, and a glimpse of a grey and slightly purple dress shirt was visible, complimented by a black tie. Brown shoes completed the outfit, and Tsuna could see a pair of handcuffs glinting at his side as narrowed ice blue eyes regarded him and Reborn.

"Ha solo inconscia," (He's only unconscious,) Knuckle sighed in relief, half to himself and half to Primo, but Giotto still registered it, the silence that had fallen being broken. Tsuna realized that Knuckle had spoken in Italian, and regretteed not having paid more attention to Reborn's lessons. As if Knuckles words were a kick-start, everything started moving again, though Tsuna found himself wishing it hadn't.

"Primo!"

A yell was heard to the right, and all 9 heads turned to where it originated. One of the famiglia members stood a few feet away from the tree line, having apparently come back from the search of the disturbance Reborn made, perhaps to assist the still unconscious guard. His eyes flashed over to Reborn and Tsuna for a second, before looking back at Giotto, who still sat on the white horse he rode.

"Che cosa è successo qui?" (What happened here?) was Giotto's immediate response, not fully understanding the situation, and especially wondering who the two strangers in front of him were.

Tsuna blinked as he felt an arm placed in front of him, pushing back until he stood behind Reborn, the hitman shifting over slightly so he stood partially in front of Tsuna.

"No matter what happens, don't fight against them," Reborn muttered, and Tsuna could only nod. As it was they would already be seen as a threat, and even more so if they had Tsuna fighting them as well, even if not at full strength. There was a chance that things might be a bit better if Tsuna kept up the weak looking act, but unfortunately, this was only a gamble.

"Abbiamo sentito alcune esplosioni pochi che suonavano come le bombe si spegne, così come molteplici cotture arma da fuoco. Abbiamo fatto come si farebbe normalmente e siamo andati a dare un'occhiata qui, mentre Formado rimasto di guardia al cancello nel caso in cui fosse successo qualcosa. Sono stato rimandato ad aiutarlo, ma sembra che ero un po 'in ritardo," (We heard a few explosions that sounded like bombs go off, as well as multiple gun shot firings. We did as we normally would and went to check it out while Formado here stayed guard at the gate in case anything happened. I was sent back to help him, but it seems I was a bit late,) the guard finished, looking at the other famiglia member.

"E che dire di loro?" (And what about them?) Giotto asked as narrowed eyes turned to the strangers, already pulling on his gloves while his sky flame lit up. Tsuna shuddered at the look, knowing that whatever was being discussed couldn't be good.

"Io non li riconoscono. Non li abbiamo mai entrare, quindi presumo che siano quelli che ha causato il disturbo, forse una distrazione per fuggire."(I do not recognize them. We never let them in, so I would assume that they are the ones who caused the disturbance, perhaps a distraction to escape.)

That was all Primo and his guardians needed, as they dismounted their horses, weapons drawn. Some might think it was overkill, but they could sense the strength radiating from the man in the fedora.

"Chi sei? Quale famiglia sei? E perché sei qui?" (Who are you? What family are you from? And why are you here?) G growled, cocking his gun's safety off. Alaude had handcuffs in hand already, and Asari's blade was unsheathed. Knuckle remained with the unconscious guard, wanting to stay out of the fight already, and Lampo joined him, never having liked fighting much. Daemon too had his own scythe out, a malicious smirk on his face.

"Ci dispiace, ma non possiamo rispondere a queste domande. Noi non siamo nemici, però, vogliamo solo uscire di qui," (Sorry, but we can't answer those questions. We're not enemies though, we just want to get out of here,) Reborn tried, hoping to avoid a battle, but unfortunately the guardians didn't seem to think the same. Tsuna was slightly surprised at the smooth Italian that came out of his tutor's mouth, but remembered that it would be odder if he didn't know Italian.

"Risposta sbagliata," (Wrong answer,) was all G said, before firing his gun at Reborn. The hitman sighed, before quickly kicking off the ground in a wide flip, effectively dodging the bullet as well as putting space between him and Tsuna. He was just thankful that they didn't see the brunette as a threat too much, and were instead going for him.

More rounds were shot at him, and Reborn broke into a sprint to dodge them. Asari soon stepped in his way, about to attack Reborn, but before anything could happen Reborn grabbed Leon, the chameleon shifting into a steel staff, and used it to push himself out of the way backwards, not having been able to stop on his own fast enough due to momentum.

Quickly he raised the staff again, and not a second later handcuffs hit the metal, instead of his head. Another bullet and sword slash headed towards him, and he used the Leon pole to push himself upwards, watching the attack collide underneath him.

Tsuna stared wide-eyed at the whole fight, though he didn't fully understand what had just happened. Still, while he knew that Reborn was strong, even as an infant, right now he seemed invincible, dodging attack after attack. Even as Daemon and Giotto joined in, he only seemed to be struggling slightly, using Leon to help him move, attack, and defend all at once. He managed to break away from the group and Leon transformed into the familiar green gun. Guns facing downwards, he shot straight into ground, multiple bullets piercing through the cement surprisingly easily.

"Dove stai anche mirando?" (Where are you even aiming?) Daemon mocked, but suddenly his eyes narrowed.

"Dodge! (Dodge!)" Giotto yelled, and everyone did so, just as the bullets came shooting out of the ground at their feet, aimed at their necks. Daemon, Alaude, and Giotto escaped unharmed, but they had hit G and Asari, G's dodge resulting in it to scrape over his shoulder, while Asari had a long scratch along the side of his face now.

"Chaos Colpo," (Chaos Shot,) Reborn muttered, staring at the others.

"C-cosa - come è che anche possibile?" (W-what- how is that even possible?) Giotto asked, bewildered. Alaude however didn't seem to care about seeing what was done and immediately charged in again, attacking Reborn rapidly, who dodged with small movements. Giotto also headed in for support, followed by Daemon, and soon Reborn was forced to be dodging multiple attacks.

Tsuna blinked in shock, especially after having seen Reborn's own special attack. However, his intuition suddenly acted up, practically screaming at him to move to the right. In his hurry to comply he managed to trip and fall, but it was definitely worth it as a bullet was now lodged into the ground where he had been standing, no doubt aimed at his leg.

"Tch, ho perso," (Tch, I missed,) G growled, before raising his gun again towards Tsuna, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"G, cosa stai facendo?" (G, what are you doing?) Giotto yelled, confused, and shot a quick glance over to where Reborn was still fighting Daemon and Alaude, apparently oblivious.

"Questo ragazzo è con l'altra, quindi se lo abbiamo catturare allora dovremmo avere un qualche tipo di manipolazione contro il più alto uno," (This guy's with the other one, so if we capture him then we should have some kind of manipulation against the taller one,) was G's swift response before he dashed forwards, Tsuna blinking helplessly trying to figure out what he said. He had by now gotten to his feet, and quickly stepped to the right just before G's gun would have come down on his head to knock him out.

"Si dovrebbe smettere di schivare marmocchio," (You should stop dodging brat,) G warned as he lunged again, but thanks to Tsuna's intuition he managed to dodge. However, he failed to notice Asari behind him, and as he collided into the man's chest, the hilt of a sword was driven into the back of his head. Tsuna stumbled, nearly falling, and could feel black pressing around the edges of his vision, but fought to stay conscious, only just managing to do so after years of being kicked by Reborn and having a hammer slammed into his head all the time.

Unfortunately it made him extremely dizzy and rather weak, and he collapsed onto his knees. Not a moment later he felt the press of a gun against his head, reminiscent of when Reborn beat him in training, but now with twice the threat. A blade also lightly touched his neck, promising no chance of escape, even as his body slowly wore off the effects from getting hit, though a throbbing headache accompanied it.

"Dovresti arrenderti ora, a meno che non si desidera che il ragazzo a farsi male," (You should surrender now, unless you want the boy to get injured,) G announced, and Reborn froze from his fight against Daemon and Alaude, eyes widening as he saw the situation Tsuna was in, the brown eyes swimming with confusion.

"Tsuna…" he muttered out and, blinking, realized the others were waiting for his move, even Daemon and Alaude. Glaring he let out a low growl, but nevertheless, Leon transformed back to his usual form and scurried up onto his shoulder as Reborn sighed. Instead of just staying there though, he began moving forwards over to where Tsuna was, rare concern on his face, though it was mainly hidden. However, before he got very far, a scythe was placed in front of his neck, the wielder behind him so if he moved he would walk right into the curved blade.

"Nufufufu, Non vorrei suggerire muoversi ovunque," (Nufufufu, I wouldn't suggest moving anywhere,) Daemon laughed. Reborn's fedora tipped down slightly, shielding his face from the others, except for Tsuna since he was lower down.

Tsuna blinked his eyes as finally the effects wore off, and silently thanked Reborn for all the abuse. Looking up now, he saw the hitman frozen with Daemon's scythe around his neck, but blinked again as Reborn's eyes met his. They moved over to Tsuna's side, and the teen was confused for a moment before he registered the weight there, and his eyes widened ever so slightly.

'_N-no way Reborn! I can't shoot anyone here!' _He mentally yelled at his tutor, which seemed to make Reborn rather annoyed, but his eyes moved to the side, and Tsuna's intuition told him he meant shoot at Daemon. Still, how could he injure someone? Though, he supposed that Daemon could dodge, and it would free Reborn… Finally, Tsuna realized Reborn's plan, and gave a barely noticeable nod of his head.

"U-umm, would you let m-me stand up please?" he nervously stuttered out, referring to G and Asari. THe guardians all blinked in surprise at hearing Japanese come from Tsuna's mouth. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't bothered to learn Japanese yet, though they had been trying to make time and get lessons from Asari. Eyes landing on the said man, he translated the question into Japanese. Sharing a look with G, they lowered their weapons, keeping an eye on Tsuna in case he tried anything.

Placing his hand on his upper thigh, Tsuna made it seem like he was using it as extra leverage to stand up, but as he did so his hand inched up ever so slightly towards the gun he had hidden beneath his shirt. As he fully straightened up, he took a small breath, before reaching for it and withdrawing the gun with surprising speed. Listening to his intuition he pushed down the bit at the end of the gun, hearing a click, and without hesitation fired the bullet straight towards Daemon.

The next instant he rolled forwards, and just in time, as he felt a sword pass over the air he had occupied a moment ago and heard a gun go off. Quickly getting to his feet, he saw that indeed Daemon had had to move, giving Reborn the chance he needed to escape. Tsuna stumbled forwards a bit until he stood right beside Reborn, everyone surrounding them in a semi-circle. Reborn's eyes flickered towards the gate, but Giotto stood there, along with Lampo and Knuckle. The path to the mansion was open, but the place would be crawling with Vongola famiglia members, making it suicide to try and escape into there. The forest paths were blocked in the area's closest to the gate, but further back…

"Forest, diagonally back, to the right," Reborn muttered under his breath in Japanese again, his lips not moving enough for the others to notice, and Tsuna barely made out the words, ensuring that the others wouldn't be able to either. Tsuna looked at the guardians and Giotto, weapons raised and ready to attack at any moment, and Daemon looked especially angry and ready to attack.

As if in synch though, he and Reborn suddenly burst into a sprint towards the forest, ignoring the surprised sounds from the others. Tsuna fought to keep up, but luckily he was a rather good runner when it came to running away, after all the times Reborn had tried shooting him or dogs chased after him. He was beginning to see that the hitman's training really did help despite its appearances.

Tsuna could hear pounding footsteps charging after them, and let out a squeak as a bullet just barely missed him, Reborn having grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the side in time. They finally reached the trees and Tsuna found them retracing their steps, adrenaline heightening his sense so he managed to not trip, and luckily avoided leaves and twigs that would too much noise. He could hear G yelling something in Italian behind them, Alaude's annoyed grunt, Daemon's laughter, Asari trying to calm the others down a bit it seemed, and a bit of Giotto's cloak rustling. Unfortunately, they managed to keep up with the two, though Tsuna doubted they could see them all that well.

"Reborn, we need a distraction!" Tsuna hissed, and the hitman glanced back at him from the corner of his eye.

"Use Natsu."

"W-what?"

"Natsu. They're bound to chase after something that looks like flames, and I'll also send Leon. Natsu always seems to find his way back to you, so as long as Leon stays with him, it won't be too hard for him to get back either."

Tsuna still felt reluctant, but knew Reborn was right as he called Natsu out of his ring. Quickly he explained what he needed the lion cub to do and to make sure he didn't get caught, before sending him on his way. Leon jumped off of Reborn's shoulder and transformed before he could hit the ground. To Tsuna's shock he turned into a duplicate of Reborn, but he could barely stop himself from laughing as he saw the face. Reborn most definitely does not go well with Leon's eyes or a randomly flickering tongue. The Leon-Reborn quickly ran off as well, firing a bullet from a shifted hand in the First Generation's direction for good measure, before heading after Natsu, who was making sure his flames were visible occasionally. It seemed to work, as Tsuna heard all sounds veer in the direction of the two animals. However, he and Reborn kept running, not wanting to risk getting caught.

A full 10 minutes later found them by a small pond surrounding by some rather thick vegetation, Tsuna panting heavily from the long dash, while Reborn's breathing was only deepened.

"H-how long… do you think Na… Natsu and Leon can keep… them away?" Tsuna panted out, and Reborn frowned.

"Not too much longer. We need to get out through the gates now."

"What? But… we just ran for the past however long. How are we supposed to get back there in time?" Tsuna asked, breath returning to normal, and he straightened up from the slightly bent position he had been in. Reborn smirked, before pointing through the trees, and Tsuna squinted a bit, before blinking in shock. From where he was standing, he could see the front gate that lead outside, apparently having ran in an almost complete circle.

"We should get going then, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said smugly, before starting forwards, Tsuna sighing and following. Within less than a minute they reached the tree line, blinking in surprise that only two guards were now there at the gate, though they guessed the others were sent out to find them. Reborn took out a blow dart, which Tsuna really had to wonder where he got from, and with perfect accuracy, sent darts into the guards necks, again knocking them out. Without pause, Tsuna and Reborn found themselves sprinting across the ground again, but this time, no horses blocked their way. Making it through the gates, Tsuna nearly groaned when he saw the long path leading down to what he assumed to be Sicily.

Still running, the duo began making their way down the hill, though it was easy thanks to the angle. Tsuna blinked as a rustling sound was heard in the trees alongside the path, and nearly screamed as an orange blur hurtled out them and straight into his chest, but he soon recognized it as Natsu. Smiling warmly, he hurriedly returned the lion to his ring so no one saw, and not a moment later Leon followed, coming out in a remote control car form, but transforming back into a chameleon as he reached Reborn and climbed up the hitman even as they continued to run, settling itself back onto Reborn's shoulder.

Tsuna sighed in relief that both animals had managed to find their way back to them, but inwardly really had to wonder what was going to happen now. Especially if they were labelled as enemies by Giotto. He groaned, and again had to curse his life, which was so hectic. Honestly, he swore some one was manipulating his life to make it as hard a possible. And that someone had the name of Reborn.

* * *

A/N: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Rushed? Please let me know in the reviews! Right now I'm trying to make my story different from others, so I hope it's at least a little surprising. ^^' Thank you to all who have reviewed, really, as well as everyone who has alerted or favourite, or perhaps both. -w- And to those who read my other story, I am working on it! Just having a few issues. Hopefully chapter 21 will be up soon though! Until next time then, ciao!

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Edit: I forgot to change this, but someone reminded me of it in a review. I'm making a language barrier between Tsuna and the guardians, just to add a bit of interest to the story instead of them already knowing Japanese. As far as I know, the first generation didn't go to Japan until after Daemon's betrayal anyways, so I figured it wouldn't be that odd if they didn't know Japanese yet. Meh.


	4. Getting Settled

A/N: And here is the next chapter! For Italian, I won't always be putting it in the story, only if Tsuna is there. Otherwise, it will just be normally written, since I'm sure you can remember that it is Italian. I'm sure all Italian speakers want to murder me right with the no doubt terrible Italian. Blame google translate, okay?

**By the way, there's a poll on my profile. Please answer it!**

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"Did you find anything? Asari, G?"

G and Asari shook their heads as they returned to the gates in front of their mansion again, the sun beginning to set by now after the large-scale search. Giotto and the other guardians already stood there, seemingly rather troubled, and a deep frown was planted on the boss's face.

"Just who were those two? And how could they possibly get past all of us?" G growled, a glare of frustration and slight anger marring his face.

"Even that skinny brunette was out of the ordinary. I've seen Asari take out full-grown men who are trained assassins for at least an hour with that blow to the head. And yet he managed to shake it off within 5 minutes of the hit, and not even that," Knuckle added.

"He was also Japanese, too, and seemed to only speak that language. So why was he in Italy, and with someone like that suit wearing man as well? You could tell he was a trained killer, yet the brunette seemed perfectly innocent," Asari finished, confusion shown on his face.

"Alaude, do you think you can find anything on them? The man in the suit should at least have a file, and he seemed Italian as well," Giotto requested, and Alaude only nodded before striding off to complete the job.

"What do we do in the meantime then, Giotto?" G questioned, and in reply, the Vongola boss only sighed.

"We'll just have to wait for Alaude's report on them. Until then, nothing. We don't know enough to seek out and confront them safely," he replied, and everyone looked rather worried, even Lampo. Eventually, the group dispersed, leaving Giotto still at the gates as he gazed down at Sicily.

'_I just really hope they aren't enemies…'_

* * *

Tsuna and Reborn simultaneously sneezed, and idly wondered if someone was talking about. They had just entered the town that Vongola mansion overlooked, and if Reborn was right, it was Giotto's hometown, Sicily. Tsuna couldn't help but stare at everything, not used to the Italian architecture, and it was even more stunning since it was an older style as well. By now the sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow over the place, and Tsuna had to admit it made everything look even better.

"Dame-Tsuna, stop staring already, you're attracting too much attention," Reborn warned beside him, and Tsuna saw that indeed, he was getting odd looks from the locals. A small blush formed, but he forced himself to look straight ahead, instead of studying everything like he wanted to.

"What are we going to do now, Reborn?" Tsuna asked worriedly. Honestly, how were they supposed to help protect the first generation if they thought he and Reborn were enemies? Reborn sighed, before sticking his hands in his pockets and pointedly ignoring all the women who were currently swooning over him.

"I'm not sure. Right now, we need to figure out what were doing about shelter, since I doubt we want to be sleeping on the streets when Primo and the others are no doubt looking for us. A job would be good as well, since the money from Vindice won't last forever. As for our mission, we'll have to try and get information on the Serato famiglia, so we may manage get rid of them even before they start to cause issues for the Vongola."

Tsuna nodded, seeing nothing wrong with the plan Reborn had. Right now he was just thankful that no one could understand Japanese, since if a person overheard them it could be quite troubling.

"Where are we going to find a job and place to stay then, Reborn? I don't even speak Italian, so I don't think anyone's going to be hiring me anyways…"

"Right here will work fine."

"Eh?"

Tsuna looked up, only to see that they had halted in front a slightly run down building, the walls and windows covered in dirt, and the wooden door leading in looking quite beat up. However, judging from the loud noises coming from inside, it definitely wasn't uninhabited, despite the slightly late hour. Tsuna's eyes widened slightly, and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.

"R-Reborn, don't tell me that this is-"

"A bar, of course, Dame-Tsuna. There's a sign asking for help, and it says they can also provide a room for cheap, something that we can cover with the money we get combined.

"B-but, Reborn, this a bar we're talking about. Besides, what use would they have for someone who can't even speak Italian?"

"A dish washer, of course," Reborn smirked, before opening the door, leaving behind a sputtering Tsuna, who only sighed before hurrying after him.

As he entered, he was hit with a blast of sound. The place was filled with standard wooden tables with matching chairs, most of which were occupied with people drinking and laughing, only a few seeming to be sulking or in a bad mood. Warm orange light flickered from chipped and slightly dented chandeliers, as well as occasional lamps placed around the room. To the left side of the door was a bar area, some more people occupying the simple stools placed there while a bartender got out different alcoholic beverages for them. A door was at the right of the bar area, no doubt leading to the kitchen as Tsuna watched a waitress come out with some food, lifting up a section of the bar counter to exit out of the closed area. A bit away from the counter was a staircase, and Tsuna figured it probably led up to the rooms mentioned, seeing as there weren't any other doors on this floor.

Tsuna squeaked a little bit in surprise when a drunk man stumbled past, and quickly made his way over to Reborn, moving as closely as he dared to the hitman. Reborn only gave him a quick glance, before making his way over to the bartender.

"Mi scusi, ma lei è quello che ho bisogno di parlare su come ottenere alloggio e un lavoro?" (Excuse me, but are you the one I need to talk to about getting lodging and a job?) Reborn questioned, and Tsuna idly wondered what he said, not understanding a word of Italian. He really should have focused more on those Italian lessons Reborn had just started a week ago.

The bartender blinked at whatever Reborn said, before nodding and replying in, of course, Italian.

"Sì, sono io. Siete interessati ad allora?" (Yeah, that's me. Are you interested in it then?) the bartender asked, judging from the questioning tone at the end, and Tsuna could only sigh in agitation.

"Si, io e il mio compagno qui." (Yes, me and my companion here.)

Reborn suddenly pulled Tsuna forwards a bit so he stood in front of him, and the brunette just gave a meek wave, guessing that Reborn had introduced him or something. The bartender seemed to look at him with calculating eyes, before asking him a question.

"Allora, che cosa esattamente si può fare?" (So, what exactly can you do?)

Tsuna blinked, before helplessly turning to Reborn.

"Non parla italiano, solo giapponese." (He doesn't speak Italian, only Japanese.)

The man raised an eyebrow at that, seeming quite surprised, before just shrugging.

"Qualunque cosa, dovrebbe almeno essere in grado di ripulire i piatti avanzati dalle tabelle. Parto dal presupposto che ti potrebbe aiutare con la preparazione del cibo?" (Whatever, he should at least be able to clean up leftover dishes from the tables. I would assume that you yourself could help with the preparation of the food?)

Reborn nodded in reply, actually being quite proficient in cooking.

"Dovrai pagare per i vostri alloggi propri, ma con la paga avrai sarebbe sufficiente per l'affitto. Se si desidera che i soldi extra, dovrete lavorare di più, ma fino ad allora, mi limiterò a darti la stanza e mantenere il vostro pagamento, quindi non preoccupatevi di dare i soldi per me." (You'll have to pay for your own lodgings, but with the pay you'll get it would be sufficient for rent. If you want extra money, you'll have to work harder, but until then, I'll just give you the room and keep your pay, so don't worry about giving any money to me.) the man explained, before taking out a key from under the counter and giving it to Reborn.

"Il lavoro inizia alle 17:00 di domani, e finisce ogni volta che riusciamo a calci tutti fuori per la notte. Dopo che tutti i piatti sono puliti, sei libero di fare quello che vuoi. I pasti sono inclusa con la camera per la via, ma non si aspetta niente di eccezionale." (Work starts at 17:00 tomorrow, and ends whenever we manage to kick everyone out for the night. After all the dishes are clean, you're free to do whatever you want. Meals are included with the room by the way, but don't be expecting anything fancy.)

"Saremo voce nella stanza allora," (We'll be heading to the room then,) Reborn said in a dismissive tone, and with key in hand, began dragging a very confused Tsuna up the stairs at the back of the bar.

Once they reached the top, it was a lot quieter. They walked over to the right to get away from the stairs, before turning again. In front of them was a hall the same length as the bar, and doors lined the left wall, a total of five. Reborn glanced at the key in hand, before again dragging Tsuna forwards until he found a door that matched it, second from the end.

Putting the key into the lock, he turned it and heard a light click, before removing it again and opening the door. In front of them was a very simple room, one that was quite small as well. Like the rest of the bar its floor consisted of wooden floorboards, and a small closest was installed into the far left corner.

On the right was a twin-sized bed, the headboard placed against the wall, and there was a small walking space between it and the far wall, which held a window. Walking over to it, Tsuna glanced out the glass only to be met with a wall from the next building over, and looking down he could make out an alley running between the two.

He turned around to see Reborn placing the bag from Vindice on a small table beside the bed, the only other piece of furniture in the room besides a rather uncomfortable looking chair in the other left corner. The place was very simple, but it was really all they needed right now.

"It seems that work will start at 5:00 pm, and end whenever everything is cleaned. Our pay is also automatically going towards the room and meals, so we won't be getting anything from our work in hand. Also, you're to take in dishes after customers have left," Reborn suddenly announced, and Tsuna blinked, before nodding.

"So we'll have quite a while during the day to figure out information about the Serato?"

"Yeah, luckily. Although it wouldn't have hurt to try and get info during the night."

Tsuna nodded again; after all, it made sense that night would be a better time to gather information on the Serato. Reborn glanced out the window, before starting to unbutton his plain shirt from the Vindice.

"We should get some sleep now though. The next while will be quite hectic, and I don't know how often we'll be able to get a good rest, so we should sleep while we can," Reborn offered in explanation, folding up the shirt and placing it on the small table, along with his fedora, which revealed the spiky black locks it usually hid.

Tsuna could only nod in agreement, feeling the events of the day catching up with him. Walking over to the chair, he wiped off some of the dust, grimacing as his hand came away grey, and had to wonder when the last time this room was used.

"Dame-Tsuna, what are you doing?" Reborn asked with an eyebrow raised, already sitting on the twin bed.

"Eh? What do you mean? I'm wiping off the chair so I at least won't be sitting in a pile of dust," Tsuna responded, confusedly.

"And what's wrong with the bed?"

"W-well, it's only a twin bed, and since you're in an adult form, I k-kind of figured that I would be crowding you if I tried to sleep on it, so…" he trailed off uncertainly, and Reborn couldn't help but smirk a bit at the obvious flustered appearance of his student, before sighing. And pointing Leon in gun form at him.

"Tsuna, get over here," he demanded, and Tsuna quickly strode over to him, watching as Reborn lay down on the side closest to the window, and surprisingly, there was quite a bit of room left on the bed, or at least enough for someone with a small frame like Tsuna.

"Get a proper rest. I don't plan to be dragging you around because you can't move after getting cramps from a chair," Reborn murmured, his back to Tsuna, and it seemed that he was already falling asleep.

Tsuna himself blinked in surprise, before nodding and lying down on the part of the bed that was unoccupied, his back to Reborn as well. He nearly squeaked in surprise as suddenly a green blanket covered them, but soon realized it was just one of Leon's many different forms. Soon enough, the brunette's eyes were also closing, and he too fell asleep.

* * *

"Gah!"

Tsuna awoke with a sudden thud, only to find himself now on the floor, his head barely having missed the table beside him. Rubbing his back, which had taken the brunt of the fall, he blinked his eyes a bit before looking up, only to be met with a smirking Reborn.

"Glad to see you're finally up, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna in reply, only groaned a bit, before standing and stretching, feeling his spine crack a little bit. Yawning, he rubbed the rest of the sand out of his eyes.

"What time is it, Reborn?"

"It's nine in the morning right now. I figured that 8 hours should be sufficient to get at least a start on the Serato. Though we'll have to watch out and make sure that Primo and the others aren't around."

Tsuna nodded tiredly, before smoothing out his shirt to get rid of some of the creases in it. Stretching again, he felt himself starting to fully wake up, and followed Reborn out the door and down to the bar area.

The place seemed quite big now that there was no one in here, all the tables having been cleared of dishes and any food or drinks that might have spilt had been cleaned up as well.

Tsuna looked over to the bar counter as they approached it, seeing the man who they had talked to last night also up, rearranging some of the bottles and glasses that were held underneath the counter. He blinked as he saw the two coming over, before smiling.

"Oh, tu sei alzato presto vedo. Credo che si sarebbe voler prima colazione." (Oh, you're up early I see. I guess you would be wanting breakfast.)

Tsuna nearly scowled in irritation, as he was yet again unable to understand anything, but kept a straight face as Reborn talked to the bartender. He idly realized he didn't even know the guy's name. After a bit, the man went through the door leading to what Tsuna assumed was the kitchen, and not five minutes later he came out with two plates of food. Tsuna blinked in surprise as they were set in front of him and Reborn. The plates held a bun that looked slightly stale, a large serving of cold pasta, and what looked to be some kind of vegetable or other, no doubt everything being leftovers. Drinks were placed in front of them as well, but judging by the smell, Tsuna assumed it was alcohol of some sort.

A few minutes later they were both finished, though Tsuna hadn't been able to eat everything and thus Reborn had a large portion of his breakfast. It wasn't his fault that he was used to small breakfasts, if he even got them at all. Reborn also had the drink, since Tsuna really didn't want to try alcohol right about now.

With a quick wave, Reborn said something to the bartender, before ushering Tsuna out of the bar, slinging on the bag from Vindice. Once outside, Tsuna was surprised at the amount of people walking through the streets, as back in Namimori it was uncommon to see this unless he was in the more commercialized areas of the small town.

"So, where exactly are we going to get information on the Serato? I don't exactly think that they'll just be in the newspaper or anything," Tsuna questioned as he and Reborn merged with the crowd, blending in with their plain clothes, though Reborn still stood out of course. It would be nearly impossible for him not to, really.

"Public places are generally the best for finding out information, like bars, restaurants, cafes, things like that. Bars aren't open until later, so we won't be able to use those because of work, and I can't rely on you to get info from people there seeing as you can't even understand them. Cafes and restaurants are pretty hard to get info from as well, unless you work there, as usually you can't hear other's conversations very well. The chances of something important being discussed anyways are pretty low."

"So where does that leave us?"

"The backstreets and alleys. There's enough gossip you can find back there to fill up ten dictionaries," Reborn replied, and began making his way out of the stream of people, Tsuna struggling to keep up as he got jostled around with his small size.

Finally, they made their way out of the crowd and stepped into one of the many alleys lacing through Sicily, darkness immediately surrounding them, before they set off again, hopefully to find some answers.

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**Just something I wanted to bring to attention. It seems fanfiction wants to be really strict on the M rated fics, and are going to be removing large amounts of them if they deem them too mature. Which means a lot of stories are going to be lost, perhaps forever. There's a petition to go against it though. Please, if you can, sign. And you can leave the postal code blank with some lines or something, for those who don't want to add that. Please help keep the stories up there, even if you don't read them yourself!**

**www . change /petitions / fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net**

**Just remember to take out the spaces, and . org in between change and /petitions). We need 20,000 signatures, and it's only 100 short, so help to reach the goal and exceed it!**

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A/N: Well, what is it good? Bad? Tell me what I did wrong please! Or just leave a generic review. Even random gibberish is encouraged! Thank you to everyone who reviewed as well, really! 'Till next time, ciao!


	5. Second Meeting

A/N: Well then, here's the next chapter! I hope it's good. ^^' Though I admit my Italian system probably isn't the easiest thing to read. OTL

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**By the way, the poll is still going! It will probably close in either 1 or 2 chapters, so vote if you haven't already!**

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Tsuna glanced around uncertainly, a bit nervous as he and Reborn walked through the grimy back alleys of Sicily. The chatter from everyone walking the streets was muffled by the surrounding walls, and even the sun was blocked by them, only shining higher up. Looking down lower, Tsuna spotted the occasional beggar, most of them curled up in ragged blankets or extra clothes despite the rather warm weather. He couldn't help but feel a bit edgier though as they worked their way further into the back streets. Reborn however didn't seem bothered in the least, instead striding ahead confidently. Tsuna just hoped he at least knew how to get out again.

He blinked though, as his hyper intuition gave a twinge, and just in time he ducked down to the left. Taking a hasty step forwards, he spun around at the same time as Reborn, only to be met with the sight of three thugs, one of them holding a club as if he had just swung it. The other two wielded a rusty half of what looked like a crowbar in a previous life, while the last had a wooden pole of some sort.

"Bene, sembra che il ragazzo ha una buona intuizione, " (Well, it seems the kid has a good intuition,) the first one laughed, a dirty blonde.

"Heh, il marmocchio scarno ancora non sarebbe durato tornare qui per più di un giorno però. Nemmeno il suo compagno laggiù," (Heh, the scrawny brat still wouldn't last back here for more than a day though. Neither would his companion with the prim posture over there,) another one sneered, a red head and the one with the wooden weapon.

"Eppure, guardate la borsa ha in mano. Come hai detto tu, sono destinato ad avere un sacco di soldi su di loro, in particolare di come i loro abiti sono puliti. Cappelli del genere non sono le cose più economici, o," (Still, look at the bag he's holding. Like you said, they're bound to have a lot of money on them, especially with how clean their clothes are. Hats like that aren't the cheapest things, either,) the last one laughed, his hair a dull brown, as his eyes appraised the crisp white shirts and clean pants Tsuna and Reborn donned from the Vindice.

"Yeah. Che ne dite voi ragazzi ci trattano a cena?" (Yeah. How about you guys treat us to dinner?) the blonde mocked, and Reborn merely stared at him dully, while Tsuna tried to piece even one part of what they were saying together. Stupid language barrier.

"Ci dispiace, ma abbiamo bisogno di salvare i nostri soldi per altre cose," (Sorry, but we need to save our money for other things,) Reborn replied smoothly, and Tsuna watched as the brunette shivered, suddenly looking slightly hesitant as he took a few steps back. It seems he finally noticed the aura Reborn practically commanded. Unfortunately for the other two, they didn't seem to have the same sense to move back, or more likely, didn't even realize that they should.

"Persone come te non c'è bisogno tutti i vostri soldi, bastardo. Quindi ci limiteremo a essere prendendo fuori di voi, invece." (People like you don't need all of your money, bastard. So we'll just be taking it off of you instead.)

The redhead suddenly snarled something, and lunged forwards, the wooden pole aimed right at Reborn's stomach. Reborn easily stepped to the side, before grabbing the pole in his hands and tearing out of the man's hands, ramming it into the back of his head hard enough to knock him out. The blonde blinked, shocked, before glaring, and raising his own weapon. Before he even got close to Reborn though, he had the wood struck into his exposed ribs, and Tsuna couldn't help but wince when he heard a resounding crack. The man dropped to the ground, holding his chest, and didn't seem ready to get up anytime soon.

Turning his gaze over to the brunette, it seemed the man was frozen, shaking slightly.

"Lascio voi ed i vostri amici andare se rispondere a questa domanda. Cosa sai della famiglia Serato?" (I'll let you and your buddies go if you answer this. What do you know about the Serato family?) Reborn questioned, and the man gulped nervously before answering.

"N-non molto. Hanno usato per essere una delle famiglie più conosciute qui intorno, che fare con la prostituzione, la schiavitù, la droga, roba tipica della mafia. Erano in alto nel business pure. Quando la Vongola è venuto però, i loro affari sono crollati, e solo pochi mesi fa, improvvisamente sembrava troppo svanire a quanto pare. Abbiamo sentito qualche voce di qualcuno che appare improvvisamente e parlando con il capo corrente molto, m-ma erano solo voci," (N-not much. They used to be one of the most well known families around here, dealing with prostitution, slavery, drugs, typical mafia stuff. They were the top in the business as well. When the Vongola came though, their business plummeted, and only a few months ago they suddenly seemed to vanish apparently. We heard the occasional rumour about someone appearing suddenly and talking to the current boss a lot, b-but they were only rumours.)

As the man finished giving out the knowledge he had, Reborn's expression morphed into a thoughtful one, before nodding.

"Grazie per le informazioni. Qui, siamo in grado di risparmiare così tanto, almeno," (Thanks for the information. Here, we can spare this much at least,) Reborn finally drawled, and flipped a gold coin to the man who clumsily caught it.

"Come on, Tsuna, we should head back. I need to tell you about what he said, and hopefully we can try and figure out something before work starts," the hitman said in Japanese, and Tsuna nodded, anxious to find out what was being discussed. They started walking back the way they came, but Tsuna couldn't help but send a quick glance back at the men, the brunette panicking as he tried to help them apparently.

* * *

"Rumours about someone showing up?" Tsuna repeated.

He was sitting on the rather hard bed in their room again, Reborn leaning on the wall. Having returned, they grabbed a quick lunch, before heading up, and Reborn had promptly explained everything.

"They're just rumours, so we can't be sure if they're true, but judging by what Vindice said, I wouldn't be to surprised if-"

"You think it's Enrico's right had man?" Tsuna cut in, and Reborn gave him an annoyed glare, before nodding.

"Exactly. The time frame seems right, and we don't know how long has passed since they got here and our arrival. We don't even know if time passes the same here. For all we know, from the way that man made it sound, a few months here might only equal a day in our time."

Tsuna blinked, a thoughtful look passing over his face, and he frowned. He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a sudden knocking on their door.

"Oi, abbiamo bisogno di voi due giù al bar. Si apre in una mezz'ora, quindi abbiamo bisogno di configurare tutto. Vieni giù non appena il vostro finito qualunque essa è opera tua," (Oi, we need the two of you down in the bar. It opens in a half hour, so we need to set up everything. Come down as soon as you're finished whatever it is your doing.) the voice of their boss came through the door, before his steps could be heard heading away again. Tsuna looked over to Reborn – who was straightening up – for help.

"It seems work is starting. Try not to screw up, okay, Dame-Tsuna? Otherwise, you might need more training."

Tsuna paled at the words, but was snapped out of it as Reborn exited the room, and he hurriedly followed, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Tsuna dumped another load of the heavy dishes down on the counter. The dishwasher – who he switched with daily – nodded his head in acknowledgement, as he continued scrubbing plates clean. A week had passed, and Tsuna had fallen into work surprisingly well, being able to cover up his clumsiness for the most part. Reborn too, was doing perfect in his job, and even Tsuna had noticed the increase of dishes lately, no doubt more people wanting to try his cooking. It seems Reborn really can do anything. So far the week had been good, though Tsuna found himself wishing for more clothes that he can wear in this era than just two outfits, a second one having been bought so he didn't have to wear the same thing for days on end.

Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find out anything else about the Serato, only getting repeated information relating to the same topics, everyone saying that they had vanished a few months ago. They apparently had covered up pretty well.

Sighing, Tsuna walked out into the bar area again, hearing someone leaving. Glancing around, he spotted the table that they had sat at, dishes and an empty mug on the wooden surface. He stacked the dishes, laying the cutlery and mug flat on top, before picking them up and carrying them back towards the kitchen. Why did dishes have to be so heavy in the past?

Reaching the door of the kitchen, he heard the door open again along with the resulting cool breeze. Turning to see if it was someone he knew or another person leaving for the night, Tsuna immediately froze. His eyes widened upon seeing the people coming in, before he snapped out of it and rushed in. Dumping the dishes on the counter, he ignored the angry retort from the dishwasher and practically ran to the section where the actual food was cooked, thankful to see Reborn alone in the place.

The hitman finished up the dish he had been making just as he turned his head towards Tsuna, a questioning look on his face as he saw his student's panicked expression.

"R-Reborn! We have a problem! P-Primo-"

Without even finishing the sentence, Reborn was already dragging Tsuna out the kitchen and up the stairs, using an alternate route they had found a while ago in case they couldn't use the front, like right now. Dragging Tsuna into the room, Reborn let go of his wrist and walked over the window, opening it as far as it would go, which was actually quite high.

"Dame-Tsuna, get over here," Reborn ordered, and Tsuna quickly rushed towards him, paling as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"D-don't tell me we're actually-"

"Yep. So out you go," Reborn cut in, hearing the footsteps as well. Before Tsuna could say anything, he had grabbed him and pushed him out headfirst, taking a moment to smirk at the resounding scream. A silence fell, before i bangs on the door could be heard, along with the jiggle of a doorknob and a curse word.

Reborn moved to grab the Vindice's bag, slinging it over his shoulder, and stepped in front of the window, Leon jumping onto his hat from the place he stayed whenever Reborn worked. Just then, the door was knocked in, the hinges literally ripping through the wood. Glancing back, Reborn saw Giotto, G, and Alaude standing in the door. Giving a small smirk and a mock two-finger salute, he dived out the window, hearing G yell after him.

* * *

Tsuna had managed to land on the ground safely, albeit rather clumsily. He couldn't help but wince though as he put pressure on his right foot, as it had taken the brunt of the fall. He heard a light tap beside him, and blinking, turned towards the sound only to have his vision suddenly filled with Reborn.

"Ga-"

Reborn quickly put a hand over the brunette's mouth, making a shushing motion with his other one, before dragging them into the shadows of the building right under the window they just jumped through. Luckily, it jutted out quite a bit from the wall, so with out someone leaning out really far, they would be hidden from view. Glancing up, Tsuna saw Giotto scanning the area. A few seconds later, he withdrew, and Tsuna nearly let out a sigh of relief, until Reborn spoke up.

"Run," was all he said, before he started to sprint towards the main streets. Tsuna froze for a second, before quickly dashing after him. No sooner had he done so did he hear an explosion, and glancing back, he saw the spot they had been standing in with a new crater that burned with sky flames. Giotto was hovering in the air, and just as Tsuna managed to get out of the alley, Alaude and G burst through the door. Eyes scanning for Reborn, the brunette finally spotted him and broke into a sprint, thankful that he was so good at running away after all the times he had done so from dogs and bullies. Though Primo, G, and Alaude were most definitely scarier than any of those.

Feeling the familiar twinge of his hyper intuition, Tsuna jumped to the side just in time to avoid letting Giotto ram into him. Their eyes met for a second, Tsuna's fearful ones to Giotto's calculating gaze, but Tsuna forced himself to keep running. Blinking he realized that he had lost sight of Reborn, and nearly panicked when he heard Giotto's sky flames increase, no doubt ready to catch Tsuna. Before anything could happen though, a green rope suddenly snaked around his waist, tying itself, and with a sharp tug, Tsuna was pulled out of the way just in time to avoid the next dash.

With a heavy thud, Tsuna landed on his back, a few meters away from Giotto. Looking over, he saw Reborn standing right beside him, and watched as the green rope morphed into Leon, the said chameleon returning to Reborn's fedora again. Slowly, Tsuna got onto his feet, rubbing his no doubt bruised back. Giotto stood there, watching them, while G and Alaude waited behind, their eyes flashing dangerously.

"E 'bello rivederti," (It's nice to see you again,) Reborn suddenly said, and Giotto blinked, before replying.

"Mi dispiace non posso dire la stessa cosa a te e il tuo compagno." (I'm afraid I can't say the same thing to you and your companion.)

"Questo sembra essere il caso. Potrei chiedere allora perché ti ostini a catturare noi? Vi ho dato la nostra risposta onesta o meno siamo nemici, dopo tutto." (That does seem to be the case. Might I inquire then, why you insist on capturing us? I have given you our honest answer on whether or not we are enemies after all.)

"È riuscito a entrare nel palazzo Vongola, e quasi uscito di nuovo, e persino attaccati delle guardie. Non possiamo prendere il nostro caso, dal momento che si potrebbe facilmente appartenere a un'altra famiglia, o almeno essere un sicario ingaggiato per spiarci. Anche se, io non sono certo di come la bruna dovrebbe aiutare, soprattutto quando non si può nemmeno parlare italiano. Non sembra lui può capire sia." (You managed to break into the Vongola mansion, and nearly got out again, and even attacked on of the guards. We can't take our chances, since you could easily belong to another family, or at least be a hired hitman to spy on us. Though, I'm not certain about how the brunette is supposed to help, especially when he can't even speak Italian. Doesn't look like he can understand it either.)

As Giotto finished speaking, his gaze slid towards Tsuna, who immediately tensed, not sure what was happening. One moment they had been sprinting away from them, then the next, Reborn and Giotto were talking seemingly civilly.

"Noi non siamo da una famiglia di nemico, né ci è stato assunto per spiare su di voi. E Tsuna è importante per gli obiettivi di cui abbiamo bisogno per completare, ma questo è tutto ciò che dirò," (We are not a family enemy, nor have we been hired to spy on you. And Tsuna is important for the goals we need to complete, but that's all I'll say,) Reborn replied curtly.

"Obiettivi? Hanno qualcosa a che fare con la Vongola?" (Goals? Do they have something to do with the Vongola?) Giotto responded, eyes narrowing.

"E se dicessi di sì?" (And if I said yes?)

"Poi la conversazione è fatto." (Then the talking is done.)

Giotto raised his hands threateningly, ready to attack, but suddenly halted.

"Oi, Giotto, qual è il problema? Perché hai improvvisamente congelare?" (Oi, Giotto, what's the matter? Why did you suddenly freeze?" G questioned, looking over at his childhood friend.

Tsuna too, felt his breath catch slightly, and Reborn frowned as he looked over at him.

"Tsuna, what's wrong?"

"I-it's, V-Vind-"

"Hmm, seems we have to help you out already, Reborn-kun, Tsunayoshi-kun."

A/N: And done! So, how was it? Not too rushed, I hope? Haha, please let me know. Criticism is always welcome. ^^ Like always, thank you to everyone who was alerted, favourite, and most especially reviewed this story! I'm shocked at the amount of people who like this, actually! OxO Anyways, please note that the poll is still up, and will probably last for the next one or two chapters. So vote if you haven't already! Until next chapter then! Ciao~!


	6. Vindice

A/N: And here's the next chapter! Sorry if it was slightly slow, I've been caught up with projects for the end of school. Only one more week until summer, which means more time for writing! *fist pump*

Anyways, for the pairings, I've decided to just see where the story takes me. If I find it appropriate, I will work in romance (which will most likely be done anyways, though don't worry, I'll still be focusing on the adventure and plot a lot, not just the pairings!). Thank you to all who voted though, and I'm terribly sorry to those who didn't want any romance at all. Really, sorry… *sighs* Well, as you've guessed, this will have quite a bit of R27 in it, and perhaps G27, or maybe even some of the guardians paired up with Tsuna in it. I'm not sure about other pairings beyond Daemon and Elena though, since I've never really even read pairings not involving Tsuna… I know, I'm a totally obsessive over him… Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Thank you to Mi-chan94, who pointed out that the translations were kind of hard to read. I had been wondering about that. ^^' As such, the Italian will be written normally, while **the English meaning will be in bold. **_Vindice's speech will be in italics._ Hope this makes things easier. -w- I think I also got all questions answered in this chapter, but feel to ask anything you want if something doesn't make sense! ^^

Giotto and G visibly stiffened at the voice, and even Alaude tensed slightly. Though they hadn't met the person very often, the voice was still unmistakeable.

True to their suspicions, a dark, inky flame appeared in-between the two groups, and out stepped a single Vindice with a baby on his shoulder.

"C-cosa? Vindice?" **(W-what? Vindice?)** G stuttered out in shock, eyes widening as his mind frantically tried to sort through all the recent happenings to see if they had broken a law at all. Jager glanced at them for a moment, before both he and Bermuda turned towards the others.

"Hnn, didn't expect to see you so soon, Vindice," Reborn commented casually, but a slight tense in his words could be heard.

"_Nor did we expect it either, Reborn-kun. But I guess it can't be helped,"_ Bermuda responded, and slight surprise appeared on Giotto's, G's, and Alaude's faces at the fluent Japanese that came out of his mouth.

"Giotto seems quite adamant about us being enemies for some reason. I would have thought that his hyper intuition would have been telling him something. Besides, I thought you couldn't interfere with the past?"

"_We're not certain why his intuition hasn't picked anything up yet. And in answer to your question, Reborn-kun, if we were to leave things as is you would be of no help to the Vongola, and might end up being forced to reveal your secret a this rate. After all, even you were having issues trying to fight off Giotto."_

Reborn frowned slightly at the last bit, but didn't deny it.

"Vindice. Non voglio essere scortese, ma potrei chiedere perché sei qui? Ha qualcosa a che fare con questi nuovi arrivati?" **(Vindice. I do not mean to be rude, but might I inquire why you are here? Does it have something to do with these newcomers?)** Giotto spoke up, having been ignored as the strangers conversed with Vindice, which in itself was odd. Reborn quickly noted Tsuna's confused face, and explained what Giotto was asking, to which the brunette just nodded at.

"_Lo fa, Giotto," __**(It does, Giotto,)**_Bermuda confirmed, and Giotto's, G's, and Asari's eyes narrowed at those words.

"Poi hanno infranto la legge di mafia?" **(Then they've broken mafia law?)** G asked, his suspicions about them being enemies growing even further. The reply they got, however, was not what they expected.

"_No, non hanno infranto nessuna legge mafia. Siamo noi che li hanno chiesto assistenza nell'aiuto di un caso in realtà." __**(No, they haven't broken any mafia laws. It is us that have asked them for assistance in helping with a case in fact.)**_

G's eyes widened at that. No one, and he meant _no one,_ was ever asked to help the Vindice. They were insanely powerful, and couldn't be defied. There was no way they would need help from someone outside their group.

"Perché qualcuno come te ha bisogno di aiuto?" **(Why would someone like you need help?)** Alaude asked bluntly, and Giotto nearly winced at the careless tone his cloud guardian used, despite talking to people who could have him contained inside an impenetrable and inescapable prison within minutes.

"_Questo è qualcosa che non possiamo dire. E nessuno dei due può Reborn o Tsunayoshi a meno che non desiderano essere imprigionato da noi,"__** (That is something that we cannot say. And neither can Reborn or Tsunayoshi unless they wish to get imprisoned by us,)**_ Jager answered this time, his tone leaving no room for arguments. Alaude didn't look happy with the answer, but even he knew better then to defy Vindice outright.

"_Giotto, saremmo grati se avrebbe lasciato stare,"__** (Giotto, we'd appreciate it if you would leave them be,)**_ Bermuda continued, but Giotto's eyes only narrowed.

"Ma sono stati trovati all'interno dei nostri locali, pur avendo eliminato uno dei nostri uomini per cercare di sfuggire alla nostra terra. Il giapponese sparato con una pistola a uno dei miei guardiani, e se non fossimo qualificati, quello del vestito avrebbe potuto seriamente ci hanno ferito. Abbiamo più di base da poter essere li tratta come nemici," **(But they were found within our premises, even having knocked out one of our men to try and escape our land. The Japanese one fired a gun at one of my guardians, and if we weren't skilled, the one in the suit could have seriously harmed us. We have more than enough basis to be treating them as enemies,)** Giotto immediately protested.

"Sei stato tu che ci hanno attaccato per primo, Primo. E poi, se il tutore non può schivare un colpo del genere, allora non sarebbe stato molto abile," **(It was you who attacked us first, Primo. And besides, if your guardian couldn't dodge a shot like that, then he wouldn't be very skilled,) **Reborn suddenly spoke up, and Giotto in reply glared at him.

"R-Reborn, I don't think that whatever you said was very nice. It probably isn't a good idea to make Giotto mad…" Tsuna quietly muttered, while Reborn just snorted in reply.

"_Giotto, che era colpa nostra che erano sui vostri motivi, in primo luogo. E se ti ostini a cercare di interferire con noi, o coloro che lavorano per noi, dovremo fare qualcosa al riguardo."__** (Giotto, that was our fault that they were on your grounds in the first place. And if you insist on trying to interfere with us, or those working for us, we'll have to do something about it.)**_

Bermuda's cold voice made Giotto move back slightly, nervous about the threat. Jager, Bermuda, and Reborn of course knew that they couldn't do that, but Giotto didn't. Still, Reborn was really starting to wonder why his hyper intuition wasn't picking up on something.

"Bermuda, Jager, is it possible that the Serato did something to Primo's intuition? He should have picked up on us not being enemies, or that you were bluffing about the imprisonment. Something is definitely off," Reborn asked, once again in Japanese so that Giotto, G, and Alaude didn't know what they were saying.

"_I'm not sure, Reborn-kun. It is possible though. So far the Serato have shown high proficiency in technology. It wouldn't surprise me if they did make something like that to help them keep their arrival unknown by Giotto. We'll be seeing what we can do to restore his hyper intuition. Though it might be harder to keep everything a secret, it's too dangerous for him to not have it,"_ Bermuda replied at length, and Tsuna as well as Reborn frowned, before nodding, the two Vindice members turning back to Giotto.

"_Seguiremo attraverso la nostra minaccia, Giotto, se si sceglie di interferire con essi. Sappiate che non sono nemici, e in nessun modo intenzione di danneggiare la Vongola fintanto che posso farne a meno," __**(We will follow through on our threat, Giotto, if you choose to interfere with them. Know that they aren't enemies, and in no way are going to harm the Vongola as long as they can help it,)**_ Jager finished the conversation to Giotto.

"_Verremo non appena succede qualcosa a loro. Spero solo che non è colpa tua."__** (We'll come as soon as something happens to them. Just hope that it isn't your fault.)**_

With the ominous warning, flames once again engulfed Bermuda and Jager, and within moments, the two Vongola groups were left standing in the road alone again. Though not sure what had been discussed, Tsuna could see that the conclusion didn't please Giotto, G, or Alaude, judging by the glares he and Reborn were receiving. Reborn though, just shrugged them off.

"Beh, se tu ci scusi, abbiamo bisogno di tornare al bar ora," **(Well, if you'll excuse us, we need to head back to the bar now,)** Reborn evenly announced, and grabbed Tsuna's hand as he started walking towards the others, as the bar lay in that direction. Before they could pass Giotto though, the man lifted an arm, halting their progress, and now narrowed black eyes shifted over towards Giotto.

"Perdonaci per ancora non si fidi, ma vorrei chiedere che vi sia soggiornare in villa Vongola. Ci piacerebbe mantenere un occhio su di voi," **(Forgive us for still not trusting you, but I would request that you both stay at the Vongola mansion. We'd like to keep an eye on you,)** Giotto said coldly, and Reborn stared at him for a while, the two not backing down. After a minute though, Reborn sighed, and nodded his head lightly.

"Bene allora. Se ti portano via," **(Fine then. If you'll lead the way,)** Reborn replied, and Giotto once again lowered his hand, before walking towards his mansion. Reborn followed after, dragging a very confused Tsuna after him, while G and Alaude took up the rear, making sure the two didn't do anything weird or try to harm their boss.

The walk through the dark streets was silent, and Tsuna couldn't help but feel nervous. Since he was behind Reborn, he could easily feel the glares from G and Alaude, and the atmosphere was tense. Unconsciously he shifted closer to Reborn, and nearly froze when he realized it, but for some odd reason the hitman didn't react, letting him stay near.

Twenty minutes went by, and they had reached about a quarter of the way up the empty path to the Vongola mansion. Tsuna yawned for the nth time, blinking away the bleariness in his eyes. Lately he hadn't gotten much sleep like Reborn had warned, and after running around so much he was getting a bit sleepy, but determinedly kept his eyes open and alert. The painful squeezing on his wrist from Reborn also helped quite a bit, of course.

Within another 5 minutes, they had reached the top of the hill, and Tsuna was once again facing the area, the place lit up by the moon.

"Hey, sono tornati!" **(Hey, they're back!)**

A voice broke through the silence, and Tsuna blinked and looked towards where the sound was. The moon was enough to make out the figures, and Tsuna's breath caught a bit as he saw Asari, Knuckle, and Lampo standing there. A bit off to the side was Daemon, and the brunette couldn't help but shudder at the sight of him, still left with bad memories after the whole fiasco with the Shimon.

"Hanno preso i due intrusi e, a quanto pare," **(They caught the two intruders as well, it seems,)** Lampo drawled out, blinking his one open eye lazily, before a yawn made its way out. The guardian's eyes narrowed when they saw Reborn and Tsuna, their defenses raised. Giotto shook his head though, conveying a silent signal to them, and they backed off a bit.

"Vieni. Mostrerò alla stanza che resterò dentro," **(Come. I'll show you to the room you'll be staying in,)** Giotto said, and Reborn silently nodded as he followed after him. Tsuna sighed as yet again the language barrier issue popped up, but didn't say anything, still quite uncomfortable with the tension. After they had entered, Tsuna heard the other guardians follow.

After going up a staircase, as well as down many halls, Giotto finally stopped at a room, opening the door before stepping back.

"Puoi restare qui per ora. Saremo vicini in caso di bisogno di qualcosa. Sarebbe meglio non passeggiare di note," **(You can stay here for now. We'll be nearby in case you need anything. I don't advise wandering around at night,)** Giotto warned, and Reborn only gave another nod before dragging Tsuna into the room.

As soon as the door closed, Giotto nodded to his guardians, and began walking, them following after him. After all, they needed to discuss the new turn of events.

Inside the room, Reborn stood by the door, probably listening to see if Primo and his guardians left the area. Tsuna meanwhile, was examining the place, which was lit up by the moonlight coming in from the windows.

The room was huge, easily three or four times the size of Tsuna's room if he were to get rid of everything in it. The walls were a dusky gray colour, almost looking like faded silver, and they reflected the moonlight well. The carpet was a rich red colour, contrasting to the walls, but complimenting them. The wall opposite the door had large, arching windows taking it up, and to the right a glass door led out to what looked like a patio, though it was quite high up from the ground, and was made of a polished marble.

Opposite from the door was a desk, set with a quill, some blank pieces of parchment, ink, and a few other things typically seen on a desk. In the middle of the right wall was an open door, and Tsuna could see what looked to be a bathroom through it, also rather large. On the left wall, set a bit apart from the desk, was an oak wardrobe. Wooden cabinets and shelves were placed in-between the left over spaces occasionally, making the place not so empty, but not overly crowded by keeping them sparse.

In the middle of the room, though a bit closer to the wall where Reborn and Tsuna stood, was a slight dip in the floor, only one step down. Within it were three leather couches, a glass table standing in the middle with the Vongola symbol glazed onto it. A bit away from this area was a king sized four-poster bed, black sheets covering it with golden edging where it seemed appropriate.

Blinking, Tsuna heard Reborn sigh lightly, and turned towards his tutor as he moved away from the door.

"R-Reborn, what happened? One moment they're chasing us, and the next they're letting us stay in their mansion!" Tsuna immediately asked, confusion set on his face, as no one had explained what had happened to him.

"The Vindice basically threatened to lock Giotto and the others up if they tried to interfere with us, saying that we were working for them – which is of course true – but not with what exactly. They also added that we would be imprisoned ourselves if we spoke word of our mission, so we don't have to worry about them outright questioning us, but they'll probably try to trick us into revealing something, so be on your guard. The language barrier should make things easier for you though, so mainly just watch out around Asari as they don't seem to know Japanese yet."

"Giotto of course doesn't trust us fully right now, though Vindice confirmed us not being enemies, so he wants us to stay here in the mansion so he and the others can keep an eye on us easily. Make sure to watch everything you do or say, otherwise this could get dangerous. Oh, and hide your Vongola gear. Make sure they can't find it," Reborn explained, and Tsuna nodded, before pulling the pieces of metal off his fingers and looping the whole thing through a chain that he clasped around his neck. For some reason he still had the chain he used to use often for his rings, but was thankful he had it with him now. Swiftly, he placed it under his shirt, which was high enough that he didn't have to worry about the chain being overly obvious, or the ring slipping out again he bent over.

"By the way, what time line are we in? Has Daemon… you know…"

Reborn shook his head in reply, and Tsuna sighed in relief.

"It doesn't seem so, since some things had changed after everything that had happened, which would know if you paid attention to the history books. It's before the war has happened, so make sure not to do anything at all that can reveal knowledge of it. So far, Daemon is as trustworthy as he'll ever be, Cozart is still unknown to most everyone, and Elena is most likely still alive. Don't give off any hints about these events though, even towards Elena. And if the incident happens while we're still here…" Reborn trailed off, lowering his fedora to shadow his face more.

"We'll have to let everything run their course. This includes letting Elena die and Daemon betray the Vongola if need be," Reborn finished, and Tsuna could only nod. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that. His thoughts were broken as he yawned though, exhausted from all the running around he had done, while Reborn just lightly laughed.

"We should get some sleep now, it seems. We can figure out what to do later. We don't even know how the first generation family is going to act around us," Reborn commented, and Tsuna nodded again, letting out another yawn as he walked over to the bed. He didn't bother to change out of his clothes as he flopped down onto the fluffy mattress, and Reborn smirked, before taking of his hat and shirt and joining Tsuna, making sure to tuck the brunette under the covers first, and settled into the bed with his student. Leon obediently climber up to the top of the bed and transformed into curtains, leaving the room lit up, but shielding the bed from the bright moonbeams.

Giotto sat down with a sigh, as the other guardians filed into the meeting room. G sat to his right like usual, with Asari to his left. Beside G sat Knuckle, followed by Alaude. Across from the cloud guardian was Daemon, and in-between him and Asari sat Lampo, Giotto at the head of the table like always.

(Note that Italian will be written normally for this section, as Tsuna is absent.)

"So, Giotto, what happened, and why are we treating those two like they're guests?"

Asari was the first to speak up, a curious look on his face, while Knuckle, Lampo, and Daemon nodded in agreement. Giotto rubbed his forehead a bit, before sighing and looking at them.

"They're working with Vindice," he stated bluntly. Lampo spluttered a bit, Asari and Knuckle looked at Giotto like he was insane, and even Daemon's eyes widened.

"Nufufu, surely you must be mistaken, Giotto. The Vindice don't work with anyone."

"That's what I thought too, Daemon. But they went to the extent of indirectly threatening to basically lock up me and anyone else who tries to get in their way. They assured us they weren't enemies and were in no way going to harm Vongola, but I can't help but worry still," Giotto replied calmly.

"Are you sure it's safe to let them into the house though?" Knuckle asked uncertainly.

"I'm not sure. But we need to keep an eye on them. If they're wandering around town, who knows what they could do, even if I send people to watch them," he stated. The guardians fell into silence for a while, until Lampo stood up, stretching a bit.

"Well, if this is what the Vindice said, then I'll go along with it. Even if that man in the suit is dangerous, the mission can't be that bad if they have a scrawny little kid who can't even speak or understand Italian working on it," Lampo yawned, before walking out of the room, closing the door with a click behind him.

"I agree with Lampo. I pray for that kid though, being stuck with a person like the older guy," Knuckle agreed, before standing and leaving. Giotto sighed, before glancing at Alaude.

"All records for those two were empty, right, Alaude?"

"Hnn," was the only reply, but the distant man did nod in conformation before also leaving the room, perhaps to run a search for them again.

"Nufufufu, well, I'll be going as well, Giotto," Daemon laughed, before mist surrounded him as he too left the room.

"You shouldn't worry too much, Giotto, everything will work itself out. And like Lampo said, there isn't much we can do," Asari comforted with a small pat on Giotto's shoulder, and stood, as did the blonde haired man and G.

"I hope you're right, Asari," Giotto sighed, before heading out of the room with his two guardians following him.

A/N: Well, that's the end of the chapter. So, how was it? I feel like Giotto was convinced too easily by the Vindice, but then again, I don't think he wants to defy them… And yes, Giotto's intuition is sealed. I feel like it always makes it too hard for the secret to be hidden in a lot of fanfics about this topic, so I found a loop hole! (Not really… OTL) I didn't want the secret exposed to quickly though, or have them treat Tsuna and Reborn overly well because Giotto's intuition was telling him they were good guys. Eh, well, tell me what you liked about it, what you want to see, anything you disliked, stuff to leave out, whatever. Thank you to everyone who has favourited, alerted, and reviewed this story! You guys are awesome. 'Till next chapter then, ciao!


	7. Informants and Languages

A/N: Wow, an update that's relatively on time. What a concept. OTL Well, the poll is closed now, the results being:

Yes: 25

No: 11

Hints of it: 6

So yes, this story will have romance in it now. But I'm still definitely focusing mainly on the plot. The pairings won't affect things too much! At least I don't think so… As you've probably guessed, it will mainly be R27, but I'll probably throw in hints of G27 and some of the guardians27 as well. The only pairing I know for sure is DaeElena, since it's canon and all. I'm really sorry to everyone who doesn't like the pairing! Really! ;A;

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Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter, everyone! *bows*

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A beam of light coming in through the Leon curtain fixtures shone on Tsuna's eye, disrupting his sleep. Scrunching his eyes a bit tighter, he unconsciously moved closer to the warmth that was in front of him. He pushed his face in a bit, his nose picking up a whiff of some kind of spicy cologne that was oddly pleasant. The warmth shook slightly, a low chuckle reaching his ears.

Confused, Tsuna blearily opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the lighting. A smooth chest came into view, and with his eyes slightly widened, Tsuna slowly looked up to meet the amused face of Reborn.

"Have a good rest, Dame-Tsuna?" he asked, smirking, while Tsuna felt his face blush as he tried to stutter out some kind of response, though failed in the end. Chuckling again, Reborn unwound his arms from around Tsuna's waist, before sitting up as his student quickly moved away, sitting up as well with a still blushing face.

"G-good morning, Reborn," he finally stuttered out, and squeaked slightly when he felt a hand ruffle his hair before it moved away. Looking over his shoulder, he watched as Reborn raised one of his arms, stretching, before holding out his hand for Leon to transform back and climb onto his still bare shoulder. Still, he couldn't help but wonder why Reborn was suddenly an adult after they had travelled back to the past. He noticed that Reborn didn't have his pacifier anymore, either.

"Hey, Reborn. Where did the Arcobaleno pacifier go? And why are you an adult as well? You never explained," Tsuna asked, and the hitman turned to face him from his position on the side of the bed. He seemed to be pondering over something, before sighing.

"I guess I can tell you, Dame-Tsuna, though you have to swear never to tell anyone else. This is the most important secret that I have," Reborn warned, and Tsuna swallowed nervously, but determinedly nodded anyways. Reborn seemed to mull over his words, pondering what he should and shouldn't say, his face pulled into a light grimace.

"Well, in truth, this is my actual form. The Arcobaleno are cursed, that curse turning them into infants, which is why we act like any other adult would. The mind of an adult, yet stuck with the body of an infant," Reborn explained, Tsuna's eyes widening with each word. All along, Reborn had been an adult?

"I can't be certain about why the pacifier is gone, as well as the curse. However, it's probably because there is already a sun Arcobaleno is this era, having been chosen. Two sun Arcobaleno can't exist at the same time, so the intruding one will no doubt be freed of the curse. I'll probably be inflicted once we get back of course," he finished, and Tsuna blinked his eyes in shock.

However, it did make sense. How else could an infant speak fluent Italian and Japanese, be able to walk, run, and fight so proficiently, and be able to analyze situations down enough to figure out battle plans and strategies, along with other things? And yet all those times he had treated Reborn like a helpless baby because of his looks. How frustrating was that to Reborn? Always being called a kid no matte what, being looked down upon.

And yet, even though he had gotten his body back, Reborn would be forced into his infant form again as soon as they returned, his freedom over. Without realizing it, tears had sprung into Tsuna's eyes, slowly flowing down his cheeks while he was lost in thought.

Reborn blinked in surprise at the sudden tears, but let a small smile grace his face.

'_Dame-Tsuna, you really are something…'_

Without a second thought, Reborn pulled Tsuna into a hug, startling the teen out of his musings.

"Baka-Tsuna, I already got over the curse and accepted it. You don't have to worry over it. Besides, I wouldn't be the number one hitman and tutor if I couldn't deal with this," Reborn muttered, Tsuna still frozen in shock at the actually caring action from his tutor, but nevertheless nodded his head in understanding. Reborn was right, and probably could deal with it, though Tsuna couldn't help but feel sad for the man who had helped him so much.

Pulling away, Reborn ran a hand through his hair, straightening it out a little, but glanced at the door when a knock was heard. Tsuna hurriedly wiped the remnants of his tears on his sleeve, thankful that there hadn't been too many so his eyes weren't red, or showing other signs of crying.

The door opened to reveal Giotto, who surveyed them for a moment before stepping in. He walked to the table in the center of the room, and placed some clothes on it.

"Sentitevi liberi di cambiare in questi. Ti aspetto fuori dalla porta di condurvi a fare colazione," **(Feel free to change into these. I'll be waiting outside the door to lead you to breakfast,)** he explained, before leaving the room again and shutting the door with a click.

Reborn stood up, quickly sorting through the clothing, before tossing a pile to Tsuna.

"Giotto will be leading us to breakfast after we're changed. Asari will probably start talking to you, being Japanese and all, so make sure to watch what you say," Reborn explained for Tsuna, who nodded in response before changing into brown pants and the rather common white long sleeved shirt. The clothes were a bit big for him though, so he had to roll up the sleeves a few times as well as the pant legs, also fastening a belt tightly to keep the pants up. The shirt looked kind of odd hanging down to a bit below his waist loosely, but wasn't bad. Reborn wore a matching outfit, though his clothes fit much better. He grabbed his usual fedora, placing it on his head, as Leon crawled onto his shoulder again.

Opening the door, the two walked out to see Giotto looking at a pocket watch. The blonde glanced up, looking at them for a moment, before nodding and closing the device with a snap.

"Seguimi allora," **(Follow me then,)** he said shortly, before turning and heading down the halls, Reborn following with Tsuna behind him.

Now that he wasn't so nervous, Tsuna had time to take in the mansion. Like their room, the carpet was a rich red colour, soft and cushioned under Tsuna's shoes. The walls were a beige colour on the bottom half, a strip of gold painted wood going along the middle, and the top a pure white, given the halls a warm and bright feeling, which Tsuna found quite surprising considering this was a mafia base. An occasional painting or vase was placed here and there, so the halls didn't seem so empty, but still spacious.

After a few minutes, they reached a pair of two doors, a deep oak colour, and very simply designed. Giotto grasped one of the knobs and opened it, giving way to a large room. A table took up the middle, a dark polished brown, and rather long. Chairs made of the same material as the door and carved intricately lined it, though only half of the chairs were taken up. In them sat the guardians, who turned to face Giotto, Reborn, and Tsuna as they entered.

The chair at the far side of the table, along with the ones directly to the left and right were left open, no doubt for them. Giotto led them over, himself settling down at the head chair. Reborn took the one to the right, while Tsuna sat at the left one. Beside the brunette sat Asari, followed by Lampo and regrettably, Daemon. Reborn meanwhile sat beside G, followed by Knuckle and finally a rather irritated Alaude.

Maids rushed forwards to place down food for them, and Tsuna couldn't help but blink in surprise at the large amount laid out. A few minutes passed, Giotto occasionally talking to Reborn, before Asari decided to speak to Tsuna.

"You're from Japan, right?" he asked, and Tsuna timidly nodded his head in conformation, a bit wary of the rain guardian.

"Y-yes."

"Ahaha, interesting! It's been a long time since I was able to speak to another Japanese, or even talk in my native language. Ah! Let me introduce myself! I'm Asari Ugetsu," Asari greeted with a smile and a light laugh, and Tsuna couldn't help but think he was like a less enthusiastic Yamamoto, though he was still cheerful. The laid back attitude Asari was displaying helped Tsuna to relax a bit himself, and he gave a small smile to the swordsman.

"I-I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, though most just call me Tsuna. It's nice to meet you, Asari-san," Tsuna returned, bowing his head a bit as he couldn't do a full bow. Asari just waved him off though.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Tsuna. Though I have to wonder, since you're in Italy, why haven't you learnt Italian yet?"

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit nervous at the question, wondering if this was going to be the first of others, but he at least could answer this one.

"A-ah, I haven't gotten the chance to learn it yet. Or moreover, I'm quite bad at learning most things, especially languages, so I've been struggling with the few lessons I've had," Tsuna admitted, and it was really the truth. None of the Italian lessons from Reborn had helped, or even the ones from Gokudera.

"Hm, seems a bit troubling. It's odd that you would be here though when you can't speak Italian. I guess it must be rather important that you be here."

Tsuna was at least able to realize that, just like Reborn had warned, they were indirectly trying to get info out of them.

"Um, I g-guess," he replied, hoping the answer didn't say much. His attention was drawn over to Reborn though as he spoke up.

"Giotto, se ti ci lascia, me e Tsuna avrebbe chiesto a testa in giù in città oggi. Abbiamo qualcosa abbiamo bisogno di ottenere." **(Giotto, if you'll let us, me and Tsuna would request to head down to town today. We have something we need to get.)**

Giotto's eyes narrowed slightly, as he thought about the request, before nodding.

"Vai avanti. Basta cercare di non essere fuori troppo a lungo. Sarebbe problematico se dovessimo cercare per voi," **(Go ahead. Just try not to be out for too long. It would be troublesome if we had to search for you,)** he replied, and Reborn nodded, before standing up and looking at Tsuna. Understanding what he meant, Tsuna also got up, and gave a quick bow to Asari.

"It was nice talking to you, Asari-san," he concluded, before quickly running after Reborn, who had already started leaving, rather thankful that they didn't have much time to interact with the other guardians. To his embarrassment, he managed to trip over nothing just a bit before the door, but luckily didn't fall and just hurried Reborn. Once they had left, Giotto sighed, rubbing his temples a bit.

"Asari, did you find out anything about the boy?"

"Only that his name is Tsunayoshi Sawada, and he seems to not be the brightest person when it comes to learning other languages. He didn't give away much," Asari replied.

"All I got out of the other is his name as well, which is Reborn, oddly enough," Giotto added, before shaking his head slightly.

"Can I ask you to follow them, Asari? Make sure they don't notice you, and see if you can't find out what they're doing. It should be easier for you since they'll no doubt be speaking Japanese," Giotto asked, and Asari nodded, before standing up.

"I'll be going now then, Giotto," he announced, before walking out of the doors of the dining room as well.

* * *

Tsuna blinked a little as his hyper intuition picked up on something. They were currently walking the streets of Sicily, having reached the town a few minutes ago. People were bustling around again, some people with stands yelling to try and get potential buyers.

"Ne, Reborn, I think we're being followed," Tsuna whispered, loud enough for only Reborn to hear as they kept walking normally.

"Hmph, took you long enough to notice, Dame-Tsuna. It's probably one of the guardians sent to keep an eye on us. After all, there's no way Giotto really trusts us yet."

Tsuna bristled a bit at the insult, but subtly nodded his head.

"I guess that makes sense. But how are we supposed to get more information on the Serato?"

"Simple, we loose them," Reborn commented offhandedly, before making his way over to a shop. Glancing up, Tsuna sighed again as he couldn't read the words, but glancing in the windows, he could see it was a… hat store?

"Reborn, what-?"

"Just come, Tsuna."

Sighing dejectedly, Tsuna nodded as Reborn opened the store, the two of them heading inside. The place was filled with all kinds of hats, from large, frilly ones, to very simple, inexpensive ones. The place had a nice atmosphere as well, but Reborn just walked towards the back of the store, ignoring everything.

Tsuna was surprised when Reborn just walked right past the person running the store, only giving him a sharp glance. Following confusedly, Tsuna was led to another door, and exiting it, found himself in the alleys of Sicily again.

"As long as we keep to the shadows, they'll think that we're still in the store, giving us free range as long as we don't take too long. Besides, I only need to meet someone anyways," Reborn explained, before walking again.

"Meet someone?"

"An informant. They arranged a date and place to meet, so all we have to do is give them money, and they'll give us information on the Serato, rather than trying to get facts about them from common people."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, vaguely remembering Reborn talking to someone and shaking their hand, like they made some sort of deal. No doubt they were this informant.

Only a few minutes later, Reborn stopped, knocking on a door. Someone's head poked through, staring at them for a moment, before quickly opening it further. Reborn and Tsuna stepped in, the brunette jumping a bit when the door was instantly slammed shut. The room they were in was small, and rather dark, only being lit up by a single candle. It seemed to be empty apart from the table holding the candle as well, and Tsuna doubted that the room was used much. Reborn reached into the bag from Vindice, before pulling out 5 gold coins, no doubt a rather large sum in this time, especially with the quality.

"Discussione." **(Talk.)**

The informant, who was a rather scrawny man with dull brown, slightly shaggy hair and narrowed grey eyes, checked over the money, before chuckling lightly and straightening up as he pocketed it.

"Bello vedere qualcuno che punta dritto al punto. Il Serato, come probabilmente già sapete, scomparso pochi mesi fa. La voce era che un nuovo arrivato era venuto, e questo è vero. Nessuno al di fuori dei più alti membri sa chi è però. Egli rimane intorno Lorenzo Cirocco, il secondo boss e attuale della famiglia, anche se ha solo assunto o meno lo stesso tempo sono scomparsi. Chi è l'uomo nuovo, sono importanti per poter stare con Lorenzo così tanto. Hanno ritirato una seconda base che hanno, la parte superiore della Serato che è, che si trova lungo il fiume che corre attraverso la città, sotto un magazzino abbandonato. Non chiedetemi come ottenere in, dal momento che anche io non riesco a trovare che molto. Questo è tutto quello che ho potuto scoprire, e dubito che avrai molto di più, senza entrare nel Serato." **(Nice to see someone who cuts straight to the chase. The Serato, as you probably already know, disappeared a few months ago. The rumour was that a new arrival had come, and that is indeed true. No one outside of the highest members knows who he is though. He stays around Lorenzo Cirocco, the second and current boss of the family, though he only took over roughly the same time they disappeared. Whoever the new person is, they're important to be able to be with Lorenzo so much. They've retreated to a second base they have, the higher portion of the Serato that is, which is located along the river that runs straight through town, underneath an abandoned warehouse. Don't ask me how to get in, since even I can't find out that much. That's all I've been able to find out, and I doubt you'll get much more without going into the Serato.)**

Reborn nodded as the man finished his explanation, and quickly translated for Tsuna, who was rather surprised at the amount of info the informant had gotten. Reborn sent him a quick thanks, before heading towards the door, ignoring the goodbye from the man as he and Tsuna exited, the door again slamming shut and a clicking noise indicated its locking.

"So we know that someone knew has arrived, in a high position, and most likely influenced the Serato into hiding?" Tsuna asked, and Reborn nodded as they made their way back to the hat shop.

"Exactly. I doubt that this new person could be anyone except for Enrico's right hand man. He's probably told them everything from the future, seeing as to how his goal is to change history anyways, and he doesn't need to worry about time paradoxes nearly as much."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, and the rest of the way back to the shop was spent in silence. Heading inside again, Tsuna started towards the exit, but was stopped as Reborn grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Baka-Tsuna. We need to get something here to lower suspicion. Besides, I told Giotto we needed to get something anyways."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow at that.

"Is he really going to believe that we needed to buy a hat?" he asked sceptically, but Reborn merely shrugged, looking rather unconcerned.

"If he doesn't see the need for hats, then we can't do much about it," he merely replied, and Tsuna felt like facepalming, but didn't. Instead, he just followed Reborn as he glanced over the shelves of hats, the selection surprisingly large.

Tsuna jumped though as he suddenly felt something land on his head, and glanced up at Reborn, who was giving him a calculating stare.

"Hmm, even works for you," he muttered, before grabbing the hat off of Tsuna's head and walking over to the clerk. Blinking in surprise, Tsuna followed after Reborn to see just what he had put on him. Oddly enough, it was a fedora matching Reborn's, also being a black colour, but instead of an orange ribbon going around it, it had a silver one.

"Eh? Does something like that really fit me?" Tsuna asked, surprised, while Reborn just smirked.

"Who knows?" he replied, putting money on the wooden counter before placing the hat on Tsuna again and leading him out the store.

By the time they exited the shop, roughly 15 minutes had passed since they entered, and Tsuna just hoped that that seemed like an acceptable amount of time to be spent looking for a hat. For the next half hour they wandered around town a bit, just looking around as they hadn't done so yet, always being pressured for time and usually in the back alleys even when they were away from the bar. Eventually, Reborn began heading back in the direction of the mansion, and Tsuna obediently followed.

By the time they reached the mansion, the sun was overhead, indicating it was noon. Reborn started walking through the halls easily, and Tsuna had to wonder if he had memorized all the paths they had walked along yet. Soon, they reached the room he and Tsuna were staying in, and the two walked in before closing the door. Tsuna walked over to one of the couches, flopping down on it before taking off his hat and fiddling around with it a bit.

"So, what are our plans now? I don't think we can exactly just walk into the Serato base looking for Enrico's right hand man," Tsuna asked, looking up at Reborn who had come over and sat on the arm of one of the other couches.

"Regrettably, we're going to have to wait for them to make the first move. We know enough to be at least somewhat prepared for when they resurface, but we can't do much against them currently. Two against an entire famiglia is not a smart idea, even if you have moves like XX-Burner. We need to know what their attack power is like," Reborn replied, and Tsuna fell into silence at that. He really didn't like the idea of having to wait, but knew Reborn was right, so he nodded in understanding.

"Then we'll wait," he agreed.

* * *

Asari sighed as he returned to the mansion after Reborn and Tsuna were far enough away. Though he had been told to follow them, nothing much had happened beyond them walking around and getting Tsuna a hat. Still, he couldn't be sure that was the only thing that happened in the store. For all he knew, they could have been meeting someone, but it was impossible to tell currently.

Heading into the mansion, Asari made his way towards Giotto's office, knocking a few times before entering. The blonde haired man glanced up from where he was finishing the large stacks of paperwork he always had, though at least it had been smaller than usual today.

"I take it that Tsunayoshi and Reborn are back, Asari?" Giotto asked, while his rain guardian nodded, heading into the room a bit further. The carpet and walls matched those of the hallway, the sides lined with cabinets that held paperwork and references for whatever Giotto might need them for, along with other miscellaneous things. The main part of the room was empty, and Giotto's desk and chair were at the far side of the room, three large windows placed behind him overlooking the garden behind the mansion.

"Nothing much happened. They visited a hat store for roughly 15 minutes, before coming out with a hat for Tsuna, walked around town for a bit and headed back. The only point I can see for anything to happen was when they were in the store, since for all I know they could have been meeting someone there, but I can't confirm it," Asari reported, and Giotto remained silent for a bit before nodding.

"Thank you, Asari, and sorry for sending you out to do something like this."

"It's fine, Giotto," Asari smiled.

"Can I bother you again to get them for lunch? I'll be heading down soon, I just want to finish these last two documents," Giotto added, and Asari just nodded, and with a short bow left the office. Giotto sighed wearily, before beginning on the papers again.

* * *

Tsuna jumped, dropping his hat, which he had been tossing up and down in boredom when a knock was heard at the door. Reborn again stood to answer it, revealing a gently smiling Asari.

"Giotto sent me to inform you two that lunch is ready, so if you'll follow me, I can lead you there," Asari stated in Japanese, and Tsuna placed his hat on the cushion beside him before joining Reborn at the door, the group soon departing for the dining room.

Lunch was rather short, Asari starting up a conversation with Tsuna again and including Reborn, but this time he didn't try questioning them. Once finished, the guardians left quickly again, off to do whatever it is they normally did, leaving Reborn and Tsuna alone again. Tsuna was idly wondering what there was to do, but was answered when Reborn sent him a dangerous smirk, before dragging him off.

* * *

Giotto sighed as he finished a second stack of paper that had come in when he had finished his lunch, stretching a bit. He had been sitting hunched over his desk for the past six hours, and was just glad he was done with them, even if it took him until dinner. However, an explosion sounded just then, causing Giotto to jump to his feet and rush out the door. G was paused in the hallway, looking rather confused.

"Giotto, what the hell was that?" he asked sharply, but the blonde could only shake his head.

"No clue, but it sounded like it came from the east forest."

Without another word, the two quickly ran out of the mansion, spotting smoke coming from the trees immediately. Giotto activated his sky flame, equipping his gloves, while G pulled out his guns. Not a few minutes later, they reached the area where the smoke was coming from, but they were most definitely not expecting what they saw.

Tsuna was hanging upside down by a foot, which was tied to a tree branch, the grass underneath him smoldering in places. Dynamite littered the ground, fuses leading back to where Reborn stood calmly, smirking as he looked at his student.

"R-Reborn! Are you trying to kill me?"

Another fuse was lit, and Tsuna quickly curled away from the bomb that exploded.

"Che cosa ho detto di parlare in giapponese, Dame-Tsuna?" **(What did I say about speaking in Japanese, Dame-Tsuna?)** Reborn asked, and Tsuna could feel slight tears coming to his eyes.

"D-di non farlo," **(N-not to,) **Tsuna stuttered out, and Reborn nodded. Giotto and G could only stand in silence, wondering when Tsuna had learnt to speak Italian, even if it was heavily accented and far from perfect or fluent, the brunette taking a while to grasp for all the words and register what others were saying.

"Ma Reborn! E 'impossibile imparare una lingua entro sei ore, non importa quanto incentivo che ho! Anche Gokudera avrebbe problemi cercando di fare questo!" **( But Reborn! It's impossible to learn a language within six hours, no matter how much incentive I have! Even Gokudera would have problems trying to do this!)** Tsuna yelled in his broken Italian, and Reborn just smirked.

"Sei sicuro di questo, Dame-Tsuna?" **(Are you certain about that, Dame-Tsuna?)** Reborn asked, and Tsuna frantically nodded.

"Certo che sì! Questo è quello che ho cercato di dirvi per il passato tutto il tempo!" **(Of course I am! This is what I've been trying to tell you for the past however long!)**

"Posso chiedere cosa sta succedendo qui?" **(Might I ask what is going on here?)** Giotto cut in, gloves already put away and his flame extinguished. G had also put his guns away.

"Sto insegnando Tsuna italiana, come potete vedere," **(I'm teaching Tsuna Italian, as you can see,)** Reborn replied, as if it was the most common thing possible.

"Sembra più come si sta cercando di ucciderlo a me," **(It looks more like you're trying to kill him to me,)** G grumbled, looking at the poor brunette who was blinking in confusion.

"E-eh? Da quando si parla giapponese?" **(E-eh? Since when did you speak Japanese?)** Tsuna asked, and Giotto and G just raised their eyebrows at him.

"Stiamo ancora parlando italiano, come sei," **(We're still speaking Italian, as are you,)** Giotto replied, and Tsuna's eyes widened.

"Cosa? M-ma, come?" **(What? B-but, how?)**

"Mah, Dame-Tsuna. Te l'ho detto abbastanza influenza lo farà in modo da poter imparare qualcosa entro un termine breve," **(Hmph, Dame-Tsuna. I told you enough influence will make it so you can learn anything within a short time limit,)** Reborn smirked, before heading over to Tsuna and untying the rope that he hung by, resulting in him landing right on his head as he whimpered in pain.

(Italian will now be written normally, finally. ^^' I'll specify if something is Japanese by putting the words in bold from now on.)

"Ow, Reborn. Still, I'm actually kind of shocked. It really worked," Tsuna said, rubbing his head lightly as he got too his feet. Reborn smirked in reply.

"Of course it worked, Tsuna, I'm not a dame like you," he teased, and Tsuna pouted at that, but jumped as Reborn lit the dynamite fuses and tossed them away, all of them exploding at once. Tsuna couldn't help but pale as he watched a few trees fall, and didn't even want to ask where Reborn got the dynamite from in the first place anymore.

Giotto cleared his throat nervously, extremely worried for the poor brunette, and even G mirrored the look. Even if they might be enemies, one couldn't help but worry for someone like Tsuna being stuck with Reborn.

"Um, well, if you're both ready then, it's time to head to dinner. I think introductions will be good as well, now that we can all understand each other," Giotto offered, trying to ignore what he had just seen while Reborn adjusted his fedora a bit.

"Lead the way then."

* * *

A/N: And I cut it off here before it went on for way too long. So, how was it? Review please, if you can, even if it's something short like, 'good chapter'. Or perhaps 'bad chapter'. Though longer ones are appreciated. Anyways, I'm sorry if Tsuna's Italian lesson seemed rather unreal, but I figured, between hyper intuition, and the fact that wrong answers will get him blown up, Tsuna could get it at least understandable within 6 hours. He at least has an extremely heavy accent and isn't very fluent, so it's a bit more realistic. ^^' Anyways, leave a comment if you can, and thank you to everyone who has!

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And I really need to start replying to the reviews, so might as well start with the last chapters. :3

Soul of The World: Ah, there probably will be people who leave because of the pairing, but I kind of want to write it in anyways, so my mind might end up unconsciously working it in anyways. Because it is seriously that messed up. OTL

iluvanimeFYI: Well, at least Tsuna can understand them now, even if it slowly. ^^' And I'll try to make things longer! OTL And I enjoyed writing in that part. I was trying not to grin like a maniac so that my sister didn't think I was going insane…

WinterGuardianAngel24: Ah, glad to know the conversation with Vindice was good! -w-

R3iga1004: Haha, glad to see an enthusiastic supporter of R27. X3 I hope the amount of R27 moments will be satisfying enough for now. ' x '

Ayz283: Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. :3

Ayumu smile: I'm glad you enjoy it. And it's good to know that the whole blocked hyper intuition thing was a good idea, since I wasn't all to certain. ^^' And yes, Serato is correct. Don't ask me where I got it from, I don't even remember. ._.

The Mafia-ish Addiction: Ah, thank you!

Xanaelle: Haha, glad to see you enjoy the pairing. X3

Lexie-chan94: It will be, or at least will have major hints of it. :3

kato: I'll try to keep updates consistent, especially now that summer vacation has started, though it's still way too hot. _ _ I though Canada was supposed to be cool enough for igloos and polar bear pet keeping… Anyways, I'm quite looking forward to the appearance of the Serato as well, which will be soon. -w- Haha, and, yes, I've thought about how to resolve everything, totally… *awkward laughter* Erm, moving on. I'm not sure about exactly how Tsuna's roll will play out. I've done a story where he was kidnapped before, but at the same time totally awesome during the whole thing, so I'll have to be seeing which I'll prefer. Or I could try both again. :3 The interactions are bound to be interesting as well, and they can finally start in the next chapter now that Tsuna can speak rough Italian. Yeah, I'll stop blabbing now…

anon: I'm quite certain there will be lots of different pairing hints with Tsuna, since no one can really avoid his charm. X3

Polar Pig: My brain always has been, to the point of rejecting any pairing that doesn't have Tsuna in it, as much as I try to read other ones. OTL Yeah, and I figured I should have done that with intuition after I had posted the chapter, but what's done is done. *sighs* I'll just try and find a good spot for the Vindice to solve it soon. ^^' Haha, and I'm not sure if anything interesting really happened, but hopefully there was something!

BrokenBlackCat: Glad to see you're enjoying it!

It'sMeHereReally: …Hi?


	8. Introductions and Trips

A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay! ;A; As some of you know, the last while has been hectic, with major cleaning of rooms that you couldn't even get in properly, plus my sister using the computer sine hers is broken. My mom also has been using it a lot to take a course for a job, so I haven't been getting to much time to write. OTL Really sorry. Anyways, I hope you can enjoy the chapter either way!

* * *

Tsuna followed behind Giotto, G, and Reborn, the last as usual as he had the shortest legs among them. Within a few minutes of weaving through halls which Tsuna though looked exactly the same, they finally reached the dining room door. Giotto walked in without hesitation, and the three behind him followed, before they stopped at the head of the table. The guardians had slightly concerned faces, and Knuckle was the first to speak up.

"Giotto, we heard something that sounded like explosions going off a bit ago. Is everything alright?" he asked concernedly, while Giotto just coughed awkwardly, not particularly wanting to dwell on the memory of Tsuna being nearly killed in the process of a crash course Italian lesson, for 6 hours at that.

"Everything's fine, Knuckle," G answered, seeing as Giotto was taking too long in his response. The guardians visibly relaxed at that, now knowing that there wasn't an attack or anything like that, though they still seemed slightly curious about it. The attention was brought back to Giotto though, when he coughed lightly into his hand.

"Before dinner starts, I think we should do introductions, as despite having been here a day, we haven't done those yet. Also, Tsunayoshi had a, crash course you could say, on Italian, so he has the rough idea of it," Giotto announced, before Reborn pushed Tsuna forwards a bit, so that he and the brunette were standing beside Giotto.

"Chaos. I'm Reborn," was Reborn's introduction, as he couldn't say much without revealing anything.

"U-um, I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, though you can just call me Tsuna if you prefer. 16 years of age. P-pleased to meet you, or, I suppose greet you…" Tsuna added, trailing off a bit awkwardly, as he wasn't sure what to say.

"Well, you already know me, but I might as well introduce myself again," Asari picked up, smiling like usual in a very Yamamoto like way. "Ugetsu Asari, Giotto's rain guardian."

"I'm Knuckle. The sun guardian and also one of the many doctors here. Come see me if you get injured," Knuckle introduced, with a small nod, and Tsuna had to wonder how this man could be so much more laid back than Ryohei.

"I'm the great Lampo, though I suppose I'll let you just call me Lampo. Lightning guardian and unwilling fighter for Giotto."

Tsuna couldn't help but awkwardly laugh quietly a bit at just how much Lampo acted like Lambo, despite being way older than the child.

"Nufufu, Daemon Spade, Giotto's mist guardian. I'm pleased to see that we'll finally be able to converse, Reborn, Tsuna," Daemon chuckled, and Tsuna couldn't but shiver at the familiar laugh, though he forced himself not to flinch and show any signs that could point out previous knowledge about the man, even if he was creepier than even Mukuro. He seemed a bit more civil at least.

"Hn, Alaude, the founder and head of CEDEF, as well as cloud guardian."

The introduction was short, but to the point, and Tsuna couldn't but wonder what would happen if Alaude saw the current head of his CEDEF when he was around his wife or son. He figured he would perhaps immediately attack him, like Hibari would, though Giotto's cloud guardian didn't seem as violent as the prefect.

"In case you hadn't figured out already, I'm G, nothing more. Giotto's storm guardian, and also his right hand man," G continued, and Tsuna nodded, slightly surprised at how much calmer G was compared to Gokudera, who would be glaring at any new person right now.

"And I'm sure you know, but let me introduce myself formally. I'm Giotto, the founder of Vongola, and thus the first boss, as well as sky guardian. We'll probably be living together for quite a while, so I hope we may get along," Giotto finished, and Tsuna bowed slightly out of habit, while Reborn only smirked lightly as the four still standing made their way to the seats they had been using for the past few meals, maids swiftly placing down food for the group to begin.

* * *

Half an hour later, everything was finished, plates and other thing littering the table already having been taken in to be washed.

"Reborn, Tsuna, I know I've already asked this, but is there anything at all you can tell me about your mission?" Giotto suddenly asked, a Tsuna jumped a bit at the question, though Reborn remained impassive.

"Why are you so insistent on finding out?" Reborn asked, and Giotto only sighed wearily in response, though his eyes showed a faint burning of something, but Tsuna couldn't identify it.

"I've told you before, but I need to know that you won't be a threat to my family. I don't care what Vindice does. As long as I have an answer and can do something about it, I'll be content," he lightly growled out, and Reborn regarded him for a few moments, before finishing up the coffee in his hand and placing the cup down, turning his eyes to Tsuna. The brunette blinked in surprise, before fidgeting slightly and opening his mouth.

"W-we really can't tell you about what we need to do, Primo-san, b-but it definitely is for the sake of the Vongola. We won't harm y-you or anyone else as long as we can help it," Tsuna answered, the sentence taking a while to get out in his rough Italian, but he managed. Giotto stared at him for a few moments, before nodding.

"I'll try and trust you both a bit more then, if you really have no ill feelings towards us," Giotto responded, and Tsuna gave him a small relieved smile, glad that Giotto would at least relax a bit around them.

"That still doesn't answer why the Vindice, of all people, would need help though," G added in, his brow furrowed slightly in confusion and slight irritation at the lack of knowledge about the newcomers.

"It because we can do something they can't," Reborn answered, even if G wasn't particularly looking for a reply, before standing up.

"If you'll excuse us, we'll be heading back to the room. Come on, Tsuna."

Tsuna quickly obliged, hurrying after Reborn, but made sure to give a bow to the guardians and Giotto before leaving the dining room after his tutor.

The group of 7 meanwhile, sat there in shock, staring after them. Something the Vindice can't do? What couldn't they do? The were the strongest group they knew, and no one dared defy them, quickly being killed or imprisoned if they did. What could one skilled man and a seemingly useless 16 year old do?

"G-Giotto, do you know-?" Lampo started, but was cut off by the boss.

"No, I don't. I've never heard of a single thing that the Vindice has failed to do. But for know, I suggest we try to keep Reborn and Tsunayoshi on our side," Giotto replied, and the guardians just nodded dumbly, not sure how to respond.

* * *

The next morning came quickly, and Tsuna soon found himself finishing up his breakfast alone with Reborn, yawning tiredly as they had woken up oddly early. Done, the duo stood up again, Tsuna still a bit bleary-eyed, and headed out into the familiar hallway. Soon though, they met up with the first generation again, Giotto in the lead, who looked at them, surprised.

"Eh? Tsunayoshi? Reborn? You're up early."

"We woke up a while ago, and decided we might as well get the day started. We've already had breakfast, by the way," he responded, and Giotto just nodded.

"Ah, okay. By the way, do you have any plans for the day?"

In reply, Reborn and Tsuna shook their heads. There wasn't going to be much more information they could gather on the Serato than what the informant gave them, so really, there was nothing.

"Good then. I was hoping that you could accompany me and my guardians down to town for some shopping we need to get done. We haven't gotten the chance to speak much," he said with a smile, and Reborn nodded.

"We'll be waiting by in front of the mansion then," Reborn finished, and with a polite nod, walked past the men, Tsuna trailing after, while the guardians headed in the opposite direction.

* * *

Having stopped by their room quickly to get Tsuna's hat, as well as different clothes since according to Reborn, a mafia boss always had to be presentable, and that apparently included wearing matching clothes, they found themselves in front of the mansion again. Tsuna fidgeted lightly with his clothes, wearing a black dress shirt and matching pants as well as shoes, and a silver tie to go with the band around his fedora. All in all, he felt like some kind of heat magnet, and the cloudless sky was not helping. He glanced over at Reborn, who was wearing a light white dress shirt and tan slacks in jealousy, the man looking unbothered by the heat completely.

Tsuna looked over at door though as he heard it click open, and the guardians came out, Alaude at the back though with a bit of distance from the others.

"Ah, sorry if we made you wait a bit," Giotto apologized, but Tsuna quickly shook his head.

"N-no, it's fine. We weren't waiting that long," Tsuna quickly responded, and Giotto just smiled lightly, before starting for the town, Reborn and Tsuna falling in step with the others.

* * *

Tsuna fidgeted with his fingers a bit, feeling a bit self-conscious. The people who were in streets or stores often stopped to stare to stare at the group, and Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit odd with the attention they were drawing. It was to be expected though, especially since everyone else was oddly good looking. He seemed to be the only one bothered though, as the rest of the group just continued on, only sparing someone a quick smile in acknowledgement occasionally.

G sighed, before tapping on Tsuna's shoulder.

"Oi, you should loosen up, kid."

"I-I know… I'm just not used to walking in groups that attract s-so much attention…" Tsuna replied, despite the fact that Gokudera and Yamamoto drew in a lot of attention. Still, he was at least used to the looks the group received from the people in their school.

"Does it really bother you all that much?"

"Y-yeah. I guess I've always been a bit more self-conscious than most people. In all honesty, I should probably be used to people talking about me and staring," Tsuna replied, a small, weary smile on his lips. G blinked in surprise at that, before raising an eyebrow.

"Do you get a lot of attention back where you come from?" he asked curiously, and Tsuna sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"You could say that, though it's not positive. I was always known as a loser, called Dame-Tsuna, or No-good-Tsuna if you translate. I failed at everything I tried to do, and could trip over air. It wasn't a surprise when I ended up with that nickname," he explained. He admitted that he had a bit more respect after everything that had happened to him so far, having changed a bit, especially over the past two years, but his classmates still saw him as a loser.

G on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh lightly, remembering when Tsuna had indeed tripped on air that one time he was leaving the dining hall. The boy certainly was clumsy, but he couldn't help but wonder how he could be that useless when he had learned rough Italian within six hours. He reached out a hand and messed with the brunette's already messy hair, eliciting a small surprised squeak from him.

"Heh, you seem to have built up quite a reputation back home. But still, no one knows you here, and they probably aren't judging you all that much. So like I said before, just relax."

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit surprised at the comforting words from G, but smiled happily either way.

"Thanks, G-san, I'll try."

"G-san?"

"Ah, you wouldn't know about honorifics in Japan I guess. We usually add an honorific on to someone's name to show the amount of respect or closeness you have to someone. Calling someone their name without an honorific if you don't have permission is extremely rude. San is used as a general, respectful term for people, usually for anyone knew you meet, or someone you don't talk to that often, if at all," Tsuna explained, blushing a bit that he couldn't drop the habit.

"Just call me G then, no –san or whatever," G suddenly replied, and Tsuna felt a bit of shock at that.

"E-eh? B-but, I-I can't!"

"Why not?" G smirked in reply, and Tsuna started stuttering out random gibberish, trying to come up with an excuse.

"I-it's disrespectful to you, to be c-calling you without a honorific already," he finally got out, but G only rolled his eyes.

"Just call me G," he repeated, and Tsuna couldn't meet his eyes as he responded.

"Fine. G-G," he said, stuttering slightly as a blush formed on his face from the informal way of addressing the older male. The pink-haired man though, just laughed, grinning as he patted Tsuna on the back, before the brunette suddenly tripped again, muttering to himself as he thought he had gotten over the habit at least a year ago.

* * *

Tsuna was rather surprised at how relaxed the entire trip seemed. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the first generation really did act like a family. He mostly spent his time talking to Asari, or G, which he found to be rather unexpected, not having thought Primo's right hand man to be so open. Knuckle and Lampo were talking between themselves, and Daemon and Alaude were just silent. Reborn walked ahead beside Giotto, the two exchanging words occasionally, but mainly remained quiet, not so surprising as adult Reborn didn't seem to be overly talkative. Tsuna idly wondered who the Arcobaleno in this generation were.

It turns out that the 'shopping' Giotto was talking about, was actually a visit to a weapons store, where they were getting their weapons checked up on as well as browsing to see if anything interested them.

Tsuna watched idly as G was looking at different kinds of guns, with Reborn also looking them over, seemingly rather interested in the old fashioned arms. Asari was comparing different kinds of swords, though he didn't look to like the style of them all that much, probably preferring his own Japanese ones. Daemon and Alaude didn't seem to have anything certain in mind, merely glancing at all the different tools, and Lampo, Knuckle, as well as Giotto weren't even bothering to look, much like Tsuna, though he was more over terrified of going anywhere near the deadly things the shop contained.

Half an hour later, the owner of the shop came out again, carrying the many weapons. He had polished Asari's swords and Daemon's scythe, cleaned out G's barrel, and fortified Lampo's shield and Alaude's handcuffs. Giotto hadn't given him his I-gloves to look over, since there wasn't much a normal weapons expert could do with them, so it was best left to Talbot. He had also done a cleaning on the guns that both Reborn and Tsuna had brought with them, and the brunette reluctantly took the heavy thing back, putting it away quickly. He much preferred his X-gloves, but like Reborn had said, he really couldn't risk using them unless it was a complete emergency.

Finally, everyone was ready to go again, and they headed out of the store, old weapons in hand as they hadn't found anything worth buying. This time, Tsuna found himself walking by Giotto, Reborn having fallen further back, in-between the space that was left where Daemon and Alaude were.

"Do you take your weapons to be checked up often?" Tsuna asked, trying to break the silence that had fallen, though it wasn't necessarily uncomfortable.

"Not too often. We'll take them for a check every few months. They get a lot of use, but it's not like they break easily," he replied, and Tsuna nodded in understanding before the silence fell again. It was around noon by now, and Tsuna was surprised to see that even more people were out walking the streets, though luckily, they shifted to the side to let the group pass more easily. Tsuna had no doubt it was out of respect, remembering Reborn telling him about how the Vongola protected Sicily. Thinking back on it, the mafia group really had changed. He couldn't help but wonder what Giotto would think, or do, if he knew what his family was like now, with its long, bloody history.

He was brought out of his thoughts though, when he brain flared a sudden warning. Giotto didn't seem to notice, but merely gave Tsuna a confused look when the brunette suddenly stopped walking, freezing as his eyes began scanning the area.

"Tsunayoshi? Is somethi-?" Giotto began to question him, but before he could finish, Tsuna cut him off.

"Look out!" he yelled, before pushing a startled Primo to the side. Not a second later, a booming gunshot was heard, and Tsuna cried out in pain as suddenly he felt pain explode in his lower left leg. Glancing down, he saw that a bullet had hit it, the ground quickly turning red as blood soaked through his pant leg and dripped down. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, before a single scream was heard, and suddenly the crowd began running, streaming around Giotto and the others like a river around a rock. The guardians swiftly reacted, pulling out there weapons, and formed a circle around Giotto and Tsuna, glancing around for the unseen enemy. Within moments, the mass of people had managed to clear out of the way, either ducking into buildings, or running down alleys and streets.

Quickly, Reborn slipped in-between Lampo and Asari, hurrying over to where Tsuna was kneeling on the ground, biting his lip against the pain.

"Tsuna!" he called out, his voice slightly raised, but the brunette waved him off, staggering to his feet.

"I-I'm fine, Reborn. Been through worse," he gritted out, and it was true. He had gotten up after Byakuran had nearly crushed him too death, continued after Genkishi had slashed that X into his back, after Daemon had literally shattered his bones and they had to be held together with the oath flame, so he could stand up after a measly shot to his leg.

Giotto looked about to protest, but Tsuna shook his head.

"Finding the enemy is more important right now," he assured, and Giotto reluctantly agreed, also scanning the area, though he couldn't help but feel a bit troubled that his hyper intuition hadn't warned him of the incoming danger. He'd be dead right now if it weren't for Tsuna.

Within a second though, Leon had transformed into a gun, fitting into Reborn's hand as he fired the green weapon. A small cry was heard, before a gun fell to the ground, and all eyes were turned to where a man was cursing in one of the windows of a building, holding his bleeding hand. Not even needing a prompt, Daemon cast an illusion behind the man, smirking as he freaked out to the point of falling out the window, landing with a thud and a groan. Alaude was handcuffing him before he could even react, and he was hauled to his feet, spewing out more curses as he was forced to walk towards Giotto, who was regarding him with cold eyes.

"What family are you from?" he immediately asked, and the man simply glared, mouth sealed shut, even as Alaude tightened the handcuffs to dig into his wrists.

"It will be a lot easier if you answer us now. You don't want to have Daemon and Alaude interrogating you," G added, standing with crossed arms beside them, while the man just smirked.

"Heh, you guys can't be that tough when you got a twelve year old kid that looks like a scrawny girl saving your asses," he snarled, and Tsuna blinked his eyes in shock when he realized he was referring to him. How did he possibly look twelve? And he was not that feminine to look like a girl!

"Baka-Tsuna, you're plenty feminine enough to pass as a female," Reborn responded, reading his student's mind like usual. Tsuna only blushed, unable to respond as he heard the man laughing teasingly, even Reborn and one or two of the guardians chuckling. Soon though, the man was silenced when Alaude hit him over the head.

"I'm taking him back for questioning," was all he said, before starting back towards the mansion, carelessly dragging the unconscious man behind him by the collar. Daemon laughed his usual creepy laugh, before following after, no doubt wanting to join in on the 'questioning'.

"Asari, Lampo, make sure they don't go overboard," Giotto sighed, and Lampo paled at the thought of having to do so, but Asari merely nodded with a light smile, before pulling a stunned Lampo after him.

A small pained sound from Tsuna though brought there attention back to him though, and Knuckle quickly looked over the wound, pulling the pant leg up to his knee to examine it better. The blood was clotting slightly, but quite a bit was still flowing down, staining his leg red.

"The bullet hit your shin bone, so it's currently stuck there. It will be a bit painful to get out, but if it hadn't hit the bone it may have torn through your muscles, so your lucky in this sense. The bullet wasn't overly fast it seems, so the wound isn't that bad. You'll just be limping for next week or so, though with my healing it should be shortened by about three or four days," Knuckle informed, and Tsuna just nodded, sighing in relief. He really couldn't afford a severe injury now, when they had the Serato and everything to worry about.

"Thank you for saving me, Tsunayoshi, though I must wonder why I didn't sense the danger," Giotto frowned, and Tsuna remained silent, not knowing how to respond.

"You're probably just tired, Giotto. You've been stressing quite a bit lately, and the paperwork hasn't been letting you get nearly enough sleep," Knuckle assured, and Giotto nodded.

"I suppose you're right. Anyways, G, Knuckle, Reborn, Tsunayoshi, we should get back to the mansion and get your wound treated," Giotto finished, and the others nodded. Tsuna however, stumbled after trying to take one step, hissing in pain when he tried applying any sort of pressure to his leg. The others glanced back worriedly, but Reborn just sighed, before picking Tsuna up in his arms.

"R-Reborn?" Tsuna squeaked, startled.

"If you can't walk, you'll have to be carried, Tsuna," Reborn responded, and Tsuna blushed again before burying his face into his tutors chest in embarrassment, missing the smirk that adorned the man's face before they set off again.

* * *

A/N: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Great? Terrible? I honestly have no clue myself, so I need other to inform me of this. ._. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. And yes, there was a slight hint of 0227 in here. Because that pairing just does not have enough love. Things are finally starting to pick up at least. -w- Anyways, thank you everyone who has reviewed, favourited, and/or alerted this story, or even me as an author. Really, I didn't expect to get so much love with this story. ;A; Anyways, until next chapter though, ciao~!

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xChaos RebornX: Haha, I'm glad to see I'm able to make chapters so entertaining. xD And yes, all fangirls shall squeal over the shirtless Reborn. -w- I'm trying to give all of the guardians parts, but I'm having a few problems. ^^' Sometimes though, I feel like the only person who somehow managed to never hate Daemon once. OTL

Lexie-chan94: Reborn's education is very effective. If school's used it, I think everyone would be a genius. ._.

R3iga1004: I'm happy that my humour actually comes across as funny. ^^ And I enjoy spoiling people with R27 love. I enjoy it very much myself. -w-

BloodyDarkNaruto: It would be nice if we could all learn that fast. It times like these that I wish to have Reborn as my tutor.

Guest: Thank you so much! ^^

Guest: Aw, thanks! I'm glad you look forwards to my updates. And this story shouldn't have that many romance moments. I'm not even all that confident on my romance skills anyways. ^^'

Polar Pig: At least something interesting happened~! Sometimes Tsuna doesn't realize how lucky he is to have such a great tutor. - - And no, I'm not fluent in Italian. I mean, I've picked up some words and phrases, but I'm miles from being fluent. I just used Google translate. ^^' And I don't think Reborn's and Tsuna's relation will go overly far. Like you said, lemon doesn't seem to fit currently. As much as I would enjoy writing it… X3

Yuu3: Ah, sorry if the chapter seemed kind of short. OTL I kind of wish I got to see Giotto's expression as well. It's bound to have been amusing. xD

Soul Vrazy: Haha, thanks. I'm glad I got Tsuna to come across cute. :3

Guest: Ah, sorry for the error. ' x ' I proof read my own work, and I don't think I'm overly good at it, so it's not too much of a surprise that there's an error. ^^' Thanks for pointing it out though!

Final Syai Lunar Generation: Wow, I'm able to get Tsuna cuteness and Reborn's smexyness across right? o.o I feel oddly happy about this. xD And yes, Tsuna does seem useless, but I'm going to be trying to get him to seem useful. -w- And I'm glad I'm not the only nothing-but-Tsuna-pairings person. I was beginning to think I was just weird. ^^' And yay for stalkers. xD No seriously, I enjoy being stalked in this case.

Connection of Complication: Yes, because it is Reborn. -w-

Pokermaniac039: Ah, thank you!

Guest: Thanks!

Aki Sou: Glad to see another enthusiastic R27 shipper! And yeah, I'm going to be doing that from now, though I'll be using bold since I usually reserve italics for thoughts. ^^

Dame-CN: Woah, I'm glad I can make you so happy with my writing! ^^ And the romance should be toned down, I believe.

Ayz283: Haha, yes, Reborn's sadistic tutoring cannot be left alone for long, no matter what. -w- And thank you!

Aika-chan -w: Ah, thank you so much! I didn't think it qualified for awesome chapter. ^^' Haha, and many Tsuna pairings are always enjoyable to read. -w- He really is the ultimate uke though. Still bottoms against Basil and Enma in my opinion. ^^' R27 is probably the main pairing indeed. And it's good to know the Italian lessons don't seem unreasonable.

Lascka: Haha, I'm happy you like R27. And the intuition will be revealed eventually. ^^

BrokenBlackCat: The outcome is bound to make up for the tortu-erm, tutoring, I'm sure.

anionymm: Ah, I'll definitely continue!

Soul of The World: I'm glad you'll continue to read! I'm going to try and keep the romance toned down anyways, so it shouldn't be too much.

BlackBloodHood: Thank you so much! ;A; And I never will, so don't worry. I don't like people who abandon their stories. -A-

Esperanz: Haha, it's fine if you don't review every chapter! (Though it's appreciate-Shut up brain.) It's good to know that the plan is working out well. I only started actually making plots for my stories this year, actually. ^^' It gets chaotic I guess with all the guardians, though I'm kind of sad I don't get to write about them. Ah well, I'm just going to leave it as is I believe. And I've mentioned this before, but the story isn't to be overly romance based. I'm not even that confident on trying to work it in. OTL I'm really happy though that you love my story so much! ;A; I didn't think people would like it so much! And I'm sure you can write fine! You're review is really well written at least. And I've always preferred keeping things on the realistic side – or at least as realistic as you can be when dealing with KHR. I wasn't expecting mine to be so good compared to others though. ._. Haha, and I really wasn't sure what to do with the timeline. I was spazzing over it for the entire second half of school one day, much to my friend's irritation. I ended up scribbling over the whole paper saying, '**Conclusion: Disregard time.' **…Yeah, it was really sad. I think it's supposed to be 400 years back, but I'm setting it in more of a Victorian era despite it being the 1600's or whatever. And Amano is indeed, a female. -w-

Ayumu smile: I think your first question was answered here, but the trust is still going to be a bit iffy. It's pretty solid though. And the second one will be answered in a later chapter. ^^


	9. First Move

A/N: I apologize for the wait, guys! I hope you like the chapter though!

* * *

"Follow me to the infirmary," Knuckle said, as they finally reached the mansion, and Reborn nodded while the priest took the lead, Giotto and G still following along. Soon, they reached the room. It was rather spacious, with beds lining the walls and plenty of space left to work around anyone that needed to be treated. Reborn walked over to the one of them, placing Tsuna down lightly, before Knuckle came over and rolled up his pant leg to get at the wound, Tsuna wincing slightly at his leg getting jostled.

"This is probably going to hurt a lot, so you'll want something to bite on," Knuckle warned, gently wiping the area off with a moist cloth to clean some of the blood and get a better view of the bullet wound. Reborn in reply ripped off one of his sleeves, bunching it together before pushing it in front of Tsuna. The brunette reluctantly opened his mouth, allowing the wad of cotton to be pushed into his mouth far enough to make sure it would cushion any grinding of his teeth, but not so much that it was choking him. Knuckle grabbed a pair of tweezers, before looking at Tsuna.

"Are you ready then, Tsunayoshi?" he asked, and in reply Tsuna nodded, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to watch the process. Within a few seconds, he felt the tweezers slowly being pushed in to get the bullet out, and could only be thankful that the bullet couldn't go in very far. He tensed as a burning feeling immediately shot through his leg, clenching his jaw down on the cotton as a few tears leaked out of his eyes. Giotto and G couldn't help but wince slightly at the pained expression on the brunette's face, but due to experience, Knuckle had quickly been able to grasp the metal pellet and pull it out.

Tsuna slowly felt the burning feeling die down, but it still throbbed painfully. He opened his eyes again, blinking away the black spots in his vision from having had them shut so tightly, and heard a small clinking sound as the bullet was dropped in a small metal bowl. He remained tense for a bit longer as the pain persisted, but slowly was able to relax, until he lay weakly on the bed, Reborn pulling out the cloth and throwing it into the bowl with the bullet.

Knuckle started to gently dab around the wound with the wet cloth again, trying to clean off the blood, but more would soon replace the old stuff as the wound kept bleeding, aggravated from having the bullet taking out. Wiping as much as he could, he took out a gauze roll and began wrapping the bandages around Tsuna's leg, tightening them slightly so that the wound had pressure applied, but not too much. The blood stained the white cloth, but sooner or later it stopped soaking through the layers, and Knuckle cut the cloth, securing it in place.

"The gauze should help keep your leg from bleeding and allow it to clot, though if you aggravate it too much the bleeding will start again. I'll come back in 6 hours to change the bandages, and make sure that it doesn't get stuck to the wound and tear off any scabbing when we remove the cloth," Knuckle instructed, and Tsuna nodded.

"Thank you, Knuckle-san," Tsuna said honestly, and Knuckle only chuckled lightly, having overheard the conversation with G earlier.

"Just call me Knuckle. In Italy you really don't need to use honorifics, and the other guardians would tell you the same," he assured, Tsuna blushing slightly in embarrassment, before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"A-alright, K-Knuckle," Tsuna agreed, smiling lightly, and the black haired priest lightly ruffled his hair before standing up.

"I'll ask that you don't move unless you have too until I come back to change the bandages. Then I can give you a better assessment, and perhaps use my skills to help with the healing," he finished, before giving them both a polite nod and heading out of the room.

"How are you feeling, Tsunayoshi?" Giotto asked, walking over to where the brunette lay, G beside him.

"Ah, my leg still hurts a little, but it's not that bad really," Tsuna assured, and Giotto sighed lightly, nodding.

"I'm sorry you had to get hurt in order to save me. Really, I should have been able to sense that man," the blonde continued, frowning slightly in worry, but G patted his shoulder.

"We should have sensed him as well Giotto, so it's not all your fault," he consoled, and the sky guardian glanced at him for a moment, before nodding.

"I suppose you're right, G."

"I'm really fine though, Primo. And G's right, it wasn't your fault. I'll be fine with a few days rest."

Tsuna gave both of them a warm smile, and they couldn't help but return it.

"Alright, Tsunayoshi. But really, you have my thanks," Giotto finished, before moving to head out of the room.

"You did a good job, kid. We'll see you later," G added, and walked off after Giotto, lightly closing the door behind him. When they left, Tsuna sighed tiredly, before wincing slightly.

"I thought you said it wasn't that bad," Reborn commented, and Tsuna only laughed dryly.

"I wasn't about to worry Giotto and G, and besides, I really should be fine after a while. By now, my body's been trained to shake something like this off," Tsuna replied, a small weary smile on his face as he remembered all the fights he's been through, not to mention even just Reborn's training. The hitman remained silent for a bit, before shaking his head slightly.

"Get some sleep, Dame-Tsuna," was all he said, but Tsuna heard the small, caring undertone, and his smile turned into a happier one.

"Okay, Reborn," he yawned, now noticing how tired he was, before settling down into a more comfortable position while remaining on his back, and slowly felt himself drift off.

* * *

The next few days were spent quite peacefully. When Knuckle had come back, he had gotten permission from Giotto to use his sun flames to help heal Tsuna, who had to put on a pretty convincing act of being freaked out by them. After all, flames weren't as common in this era as in the future, so it would be odd if he knew what they were.

The flames had helped heal the wound quite a bit, to the point where it would only take about three days for him to be walking around with a very small limp, the fourth day probably leaving him with next to perfect movements. Not that he ever really moved perfectly of course.

During the time he had to kill, Tsuna spent the first two days going over more Italian, helping to slowly become a lot more fluent, the results quite obvious. On the third day, Reborn ended up dragging him out to a secluded area of the forest, and proceeded to give him shooting lessons, much to Tsuna's dismay. The guardian's reactions were rather amusing though, when they found out about it. Maybe he's starting to take after Reborn too much.

Sighing, Tsuna finally put down the gun, having been training since 6 in the morning, it now being 7 pm. Apparently he had been sleeping too much, so it was fine to wake him up that early for lessons and have them drag on for that long, according to Reborn. He now stood in his room, and stretched a bit, before heading out again. He walked with a slight limp, but like Knuckle had predicted, it wasn't very large and the pain was practically non-existent. He blinked in surprise though as Alaude suddenly walked past, looking rather irritated, Daemon following more slowly. Noticing Tsuna, he smirked slightly, before stopping beside the brunette.

"Nufufufu, hello, Tsunayoshi. Did your weapons training go well?" he asked and Tsuna could only pale slightly remembering said training, Reborn having used his usual spartan methods, though they seemed slightly toned down, probably due to his leg.

"A-ah, I g-guess," he stuttered out, before sending another glance towards Alaude as the man rounded the corner. He almost wished he would come back, just so he wouldn't be left alone with Daemon. As much as he knew the reason for the illusionist's actions in the future, he still got extremely nervous around him.

"Alaude's in a bit of a foul mood. So far, the prisoner hasn't said anything, other than his mission, which we already knew. It's starting to frustrate him a bit. Usually they would have cracked by now," Daemon offered in explanation, even if Tsuna hadn't exactly asked a question. He couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for the man, but not completely, seeing as he had tried to kill Giotto.

"C-could I try t-talking to him?" Tsuna abruptly asked, a bit surprised at his words, but his hyper intuition was definitely trying to tell him something. Daemon blinked in surprise at that, not expecting someone like the brunette to ask that.

"I suppose you could, but we should ask Giotto first," he finally responded, and Tsuna nodded nervously, before they started to head to Giotto's office.

* * *

"Come in," Giotto called, glancing up from his paperwork as the door opened to reveal Daemon and surprisingly Tsuna. Odd, the brunette always seemed to try and avoid his mist guardian, though Daemon was admittedly rather creepy at times.

"What is it, Daemon, Tsunayoshi?"

"Tsuna would like to request to talk with the prisoner we have, the one who tried to assassinate you," Daemon explained, and Giotto couldn't help but feel shocked at that.

"Why would you want to speak to him?" he questioned, giving Tsuna a confused look, who slightly shifted nervously under the stare.

"U-um, I'm not entirely sure m-myself, but it just feels l-like I should?" was all he could respond with. Honestly, he didn't know either, but it seemed like it was important to talk to him. Giotto looked even more confused at that, but after a moment, relented, sighing.

"Alright, you can, but I'd like someone else in the room with you."

"I-I'll bring Reborn in then."

Nodding, Giotto dismissed them, before turning back to his paperwork again, mind still trying to figure out everything that just happened.

* * *

Tsuna and Daemon had found Reborn pretty quickly, the hitman having returned to their room again. Reborn had easily agreed to going with Tsuna, realizing that it had something to do with his hyper intuition, and now they were entering into the room, Daemon leaving to do something else after telling them to make sure the door was closed when they left.

The man was standing against a wall, looking almost asleep, and his ankle was shackled with a brass cuff that was attached to the floor. He had some pretty nasty bruises, some cuts, and looked drenched in water, but beyond that was relatively okay, something Tsuna couldn't but feel relieved at. He had expected something harsher, which may or may not have proved for better results. Then again, there's no telling what his mind had gone through when Daemon was there.

Noticing that despite hearing the door open and close, nothing was happening, he opened his eyes and glanced up, only to see Tsuna and Reborn there, recognizing them as the strangers who had been there when he had tried to kill Giotto.

"Eh, are they trying a new tactic to get me to talk now? Though I wonder what the scrawny 12 year old girl can do," he commented, smirking slightly as Tsuna blushed at the insult.

"I-I just wanted to talk to you…" Tsuna stuttered out, giving a helpless look to the man. Really, again with the stupid scrawny girl comment.

"Talk to me? About what?" he laughed, before blinking as he looked more intently at Tsuna, the brunette shifting his weight to his other foot under the scrutiny.

"You know, I thought I recognized you when I first saw you. Now I definitely remember," he suddenly said, and Tsuna blinked in surprise at that, even Reborn looking slightly taken aback.

"Recognized me? What do you mean?"

"Why would I answer you?" he snorted, but within a second Reborn was beside him, digging a gun into his temple as he clicked the hammer down.

"Because I'll blow your head off if you don't start answering," Reborn stated coldly, black eyes glinting as the man shivered, seeing that the hitman was dead serious. The others had hurt him, but he knew they wouldn't kill him. This guy was a different case entirely though, and he realized he would definitely follow through on his threat, and he'd rather not die just yet.

"I-I saw you in a picture. It was kind of odd, since it looked like photograph, but was coloured, and I must say you were wearing some pretty odd clothes, so that's why I didn't recognize you right away."

"Where was the picture?" Tsuna prompted.

"On my boss's desk. I saw it when I was getting my mission from him."

"And just who's your boss?" Reborn continued, pushing the gun against his head a bit further as his finger wrapped around the trigger when he didn't respond immediately.

"L-Lorenzo! Lorenzo Cirocco, the second boss of the Serato famiglia!" he stuttered out, and Tsuna couldn't help but tense slightly at the words.

"It seems there's a chance they know you're here, Tsuna," Reborn reiterated, and Tsuna could only shakily nod as Reborn turned to glare at the man again.

"Oi, you, was there anything else there?" he questioned harshly.

"N-no! I swear, I didn't notice anything!" he practically yelled, and Reborn regarded him for a moment, before backing off.

"Mention any of this to anyone else, and I'll personally make sure you will die slowly," he growled, before walking back towards Tsuna.

"Pull yourself together while we're outside, we'll talk back in the room," Reborn whispered into his ear, and Tsuna took a deep breath, calming himself, before walking towards the door. Opening it, he blinked in surprise as he was met with Daemon standing there.

"Ah, I take it you're done?" he asked, and Tsuna nodded in response.

"So, find out anything from your talk, Tsunayoshi, Reborn?"

"He's from the Serato famiglia. Besides that, nothing," Reborn replied, meeting the indigo haired man in the eye.

"Nufufu, wow, I'm surprised you got information from him. Well, I'll go tell Alaude," Daemon responded, smirking slightly creepily, before turning and walking down the hall. Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief as he left, before they too started down the maze-like halls of the mansion.

* * *

Tsuna collapsed onto one the couches, Reborn sitting across from him.

"So, the Serato probably already know that I'm here, and at least the current boss and Enrico's right hand man will be able to recognize me on sight, as well as anyone else who may have seen that photo," Tsuna summarized.

"Seems like it, and it's undetermined if they know about me. For all we know though, they might not know you're here. It wouldn't be that odd for the guy from our time to have a picture of you, after all, when you're his main enemy besides Giotto currently," Reborn reasoned, and Tsuna sighed, seeing the sense in what he was saying.

"I suppose you're right. Either way, we still have to wait for them to make the first move, don't we?"

"Yeah," Reborn finished.

"Guess we should get to bed then, if there isn't anything we can do," Tsuna suggested, yawning, before getting up and heading over to the bed, not bothering to change like usual. At least Giotto had gotten clothes in their wardrobe, as well as getting a few sizes smaller for him so they fit a lot better than previous ones.

"I agree, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn replied, joining Tsuna on the bed in just his pants again, though the last two days Knuckle had made Tsuna sleep in the infirmary beds. The brunette squeaked as he felt arms wrap around his frame, rolling him over and hugging him to a bare chest.

"R-Reborn-!"

"Be quiet Dame-Tsuna, and go to sleep," Reborn interrupted, and within moments his breathing had evened out. Tsuna struggled for a bit to get away, trying to pry the arms off of him, but his tutor's grip wouldn't budge. Finally, he just gave up, heaving a sigh as he shifted into a more comfortable position than the one the escape attempts had left him in.

"Good night, Reborn," he murmured, before also closing his eyes peacefully.

* * *

Tsuna blinked his eyes open just as he heard the door to the bathroom click open, Reborn walking out in a clear pair of pants and drying his hair, apparently having had a shower.

"Finally awake, Dame-Tsuna?" he smirked, and Tsuna just glared back at him, though to Reborn it looked like a mere pout. Sitting up, the teen yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and stretching, before swinging his legs out of bed. He tested his weight on his leg, but it was now merely a bit stiff, most of it already healed, so he could almost completely normally, though it might take a while to completely heal.

Going through his usual morning routine, by the time Tsuna finished putting on his shirt he was a lot more awake. Stretching a little bit more to work out all signs of sleepiness, he smiled at Reborn.

"Good morning, Reborn," he greeted, now that he was awake, and Reborn stared back at him before chuckling lightly.

"Good morning, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna bristled slightly at the nickname Reborn refused to drop, but he knew it was true, his classmates still calling him that as well. His thoughts were broken though when a resounding explosion shook the mansion, and his eyes widened as gunshots started piercing the silence.

"R-Reborn, what's happening?" he asked, and Reborn just tilted his fedora down a bit.

"I'm not sure, Dame-Tsuna, but my guess is that they've finally made their move," he replied, and Tsuna tensed at that. Swiftly Reborn moved, grabbing Tsuna's pills and gloves from where they had been hidden and tossing them to Tsuna, who clumsily caught them.

"Try not to use them, this is only for emergency circumstances, like if you or one of the guardians are about to be killed. Other than that, keep them hidden. Take this as well."

Tsuna squeaked as the gun was also tossed in his direction, barely catching it in time after having stuffed the pills and gloves into the pockets the black pants he wore had. Pulling the tan shirt up, he reluctantly hid the gun underneath again just as Reborn walked past them, and they left the room with a brisk pace. As another explosion rang out through the mansion though, they moved into a run.

"This way," Tsuna suddenly spoke up, taking the lead as he began swerving through different halls, following his intuition. Reborn looked rather surprised, but followed nonetheless. They soon reached the front hall, and instead of going down the stairs that lead up to the floor they usually occupied, they opted to just vault over the railing, Tsuna rolling to move his momentum forwards and avoid injury, while Reborn just landed normally.

Without missing a beat, they were up and running again, the gunshots clear as well as the many voices shouting at each other, and the occasional cry of pain. They noticed G, Giotto, and Asari paused at the door, looking out with wide eyes, before the rain and storm guardians dashed out, no doubt going to help with the battle that could be heard outside. Giotto looked ready to go as well, but stopped when he noticed Tsuna and Reborn.

"Giotto, what's happening?" Reborn immediately asked, and the blonde haired man focused his gaze out the door. Looking as well, the student and teacher duo glanced at the battlefield. The entire front courtyard was filled with men from different sides, firing weapons at each other, punching, or swinging knives and clubs. The only way to immediately differentiate between the two sides was that the opposing had a piece of cloth wrapped around their right bicep, black on top and red on the bottom.

"The Serato have resurfaced and attacked."

* * *

Giotto sighed, placing down the file he had been reading. He had been trying to find out more information on the Serato since yesterday, when they had found out that the assassin was from that family, but so far, he couldn't find anything. No one seemed to know what had happened to them, and he wasn't sure Alaude would approve in them trying to pay an informant for it, the man preferring to make sure the information was definitely correct.

He glanced up as Asari entered the room, closing the door behind him and sending a sympathetic smile to Giotto.

"I take it the searching isn't going well?" Asari asked, taking in Giotto's weary looking state, and the boss sighed, nodding.

"They've just vanished. No one knows what's happened to them, and Alaude probably won't accept information from an informant, so I'm just not sure what to do," he admitted, Asari walking over to the desk and flipping through the folder labelled SERATO quickly. Closing it again, he placed the papers back on the desk.

"Should I make you some Japanese styled tea, Giotto? It should help calm you down," he offered, and the blonde nodded with a small smile.

"That would be much appreciated, Asari, thank you. The sweeter tea the chefs make isn't nearly as effective," he replied, and Asari bowed his head quickly and turned around to leave the study.

Before he could though, the doors were slammed open, as a guard stumbled in. He was clutching his shoulder where blood was pouring out, no doubt from a gun wound, and he leaned against the doorframe for support.

"P-Primo, we've been a-attacked!" he panted out, and the two men immediately rushed over to him, helping him into a more comfortable position on the floor, shifting him so his back rested against the door frame.

"How many? And which family?" Giotto immediately asked.

"A-around 20-30 well trained men. A-and they're calling themselves the-"

Before the man could get the words out, a gunshot sounded, hitting him right in the forehead and instantly killing him. Giotto and Asari quickly looked up to see a man with a gun that was now aimed at them, but before he could do anything, another gunshot sounded and he crumpled to the ground. G walked into view, scowling as loaded another bullet into his gun, keeping the rounds full.

"Tch, one of them got through," he growled.

"G! What's happening?" Giotto immediately questioned, and the man glanced up at Primo.

"The Serato are back, and decided to do a full frontal attack. Our subordinates are going out to fight, but what we thought to be a group no larger than 30 men is actually a lot bigger, and they're outmatching our men. Knuckle is out trying to heal everyone, and Lampo's defending him while he helps the wounded. Alaude and Daemon are heading out right now," he responded, and Giotto nodded.

"Asari, G, come," he ordered, and swiftly grabbed his cloak from where it was draped before running out the room, the others following.

* * *

"Their numbers are overwhelming us right now, but the guardians have arrived and we should be able to take care of it," Giotto continued, glancing out again. Indeed, multiple men were crumpling to the ground or disappearing, getting trapped in Daemon's illusions, and Alaude was a force to be reckoned with at the speed he was knocking everyone out, thought Tsuna was pretty sure a few of them weren't going to be getting up again. G was taking out a lot with well-trained shots, and Asari was also able to easily attack and defend with the four blades he held, the three short ones mainly used for the defense portion. Lampo was even defeating a few of them but mainly he was shielding Knuckle as he worked to stem blood flows and keep the Vongola men from dying.

"I'll help in the fight as well," Reborn announced, and Giotto looked about ready to protest, but kept his mouth shut as one of their men was thrown against the wall beside the doors, groaning as he slid to the ground.

"Very well, I'll trust you then," Giotto reluctantly agreed, but knew that he should be thankful for any help right about now. Taking a calm breath, he felt his dying will flame lit up, and he pulled on the familiar I-gloves, tightening them before dashing out to help as swarms of the Serato kept piling through the gates which seemed to have been blasted off, no doubt the explosion that alerted Tsuna and Reborn.

"Tsuna, stay off to the side. You should still hide your fighting skills. Even if you're attacked, only dodge. We don't want to go back to square one with Giotto and the others. If you're out of sight from everyone though, you can fight back, just make sure that your enemy is going to be unconscious for a long time," Reborn ordered, and the brunette sighed, but nodded anyways, knowing Reborn was right. Acting on impulse, he suddenly hugged the hitman, Reborn blinking in shock, not having expected the action.

"Stay safe, Reborn," Tsuna murmured, his face buried into his tutor's front, and the older male smiled softly at him, before ruffling the spiky locks.

"I'm the world's best hitman, Tsuna, I won't be going down anytime soon," he assured, and Tsuna nodded again before stepping back and giving Reborn a smile. He returned it with a smirk, before dashing out of the doors again, one of the Vindice guns and an older modelled Leon gun hand.

"Good luck, Reborn."

* * *

A/N: Well, the Serato have finally made their attack, so the story should be moving forwards a bit faster now. :3 As usual, please tell me what you thought! I try my best to listen to everyone and fix anything you guys don't like, so feel free to point that stuff out! Thank you to everyone who was reviewed, favourited, and/or alerted this story. I never expected to get so many people liking this! Until next chapter, ciao~!

* * *

winged-angel21: Haha, thanks, really!

BloodyDarkNaruto: I'm glad you enjoy the R27. -w-

xChaos RebornX: I was kind of going for slight fluff to make up for shooting Tsuna. ^^'Hmm, well, they can technically, but they need to be extremely careful about everything, especially around Daemon, since he might act differently with everything that happens than originally if he knows who Vongola Decimo is. Haha, and it just seemed like a Reborn typical thing to do. X3 Or he might be completely OOC. I don't know anymore. ._.

BlackBloodHood: Glad you enjoyed it! And yay for story stalkers. X3

Rin: Unfortunately, yes, this is a yaoi story. The romance will be toned down and everything, and mainly focus on adventure/action/plot, but there will be yaoi in it. Sorry about that. - -

Esperanz: Yay, regular reviewing. X3 It always makes me look forwards to getting the review, though don't feel like you have to review every chapter! Haha, and I'm sure your stories are fine! I just used to come up with the rough idea, started writing and see where it took me, which caused issues sometimes. OTL Yeah, it's nice to write about the calmer guardians, though you can't help but love the chaos the Decimo ones always make. -w- Hints are always nice to read in stories, as I inwardly fangirl over all of them. X3 And ranting is fine! I enjoy the rants! That sounded weird, didn't it? ._. And I'm planning to put up a 0227 story on my other account soon, using a prompt from a drabble series I have. It's just too awesome to be contained in a drabble. :3 It would be awesome if R27 was official, but I think I read somewhere that Amano doesn't like yaoi, though she doesn't mind 5927. She manages to put in a lot of yaoi hints though either way. xD And it does make you wonder if Tsuna is truly dame or not. *nods* Yeah, my friends were forcefully taking the paper from me and trying to distract me with the schoolwork, but it wouldn't get out of my head for the whole day. OTL But yes, very convenient, these powers of the authors. Haha, and it's fine. I always assumed she was a girl for some reason, though for a while I though Amano was guy since there was some comic that had someone called Amano Akira (or one of the names) and the poster was saying they're actually a guy, though when I think about it I think they were just joking. So I do believe I'm more ignorant here. TTATT I'm also eagerly awaiting the time when I finally get to write in the X-gloves~ I think everyone enjoys poor Tsuna always getting his feminine looks pointed out. Poor Tsuna.

DiamondGoddess: Haha, thanks!

WinterGuardianAngel24: Well, I'd prefer love, but the context of hate here isn't so bad either way. xD I'm really glad you like it so much. I didn't expect people to in all honesty!

codenumber6: Hm, I'm not sure. I'd like there to be, but a lot of the pairings depend on the way that the story goes, so I'll be seeing myself. ^^'

Yuu3: For now, yes, indeed. We just have to hope the Vindice can do something soon.

Connection of Complication: Ah, you're welcome! And thanks for the review! X3

Guest: I'm glad you do!

R3iga1004: Haha, I'm happy that you think this story is actually worth the wait! And I felt that Reborn would have no issue agreeing with people insulting Tsuna. And I always though that G and Tsuna would get along well, one of the many reasons why I shall ship this pairing despite the severe lack of support it has. -w-

Soul Vrazy: Yay, I managed to get Tsuna's cuteness right! *insert rare ego stroke here* Haha, and I'm not sure if they'll meet the Arcobaleno or not. I'm not even sure how much of an effect they had on the past generations, but I'll be seeing!

BrokenBlackCat: Haha, poor Tsuna is always getting comments like that more or less, so why not put them all together. xD And despite G being rather protective and quite unfriendly, I feel like he can be nice to people he doesn't think are enemies and don't annoy him. And I'm not sure about whether or not the guardians will be coming. I might want to add them in to help with the romance, with perhaps jealousy and things like that from the first generation seeing how close the guardians are to Tsuna, but I'm still not certain. ^^' Perhaps I'll put a poll eventually?

Final Syai Lunar Generation: Alright, I have an amazing stalker now! *high-fives* And I think I enjoy writing Tsuna getting hurt a bit too much. Based on some other things as well, I'm beginning to think of myself as a terrible author that just wants to inflict pain on everyone I ever write. OTL The R27 fluff was kind of to make up for shooting him. ^^' And the 0227 was really fun to write. -w-

Eiida-chan: Yay, a fellow Daemon fan! I always thought his character was amazing, and when you found out his reason for all of his actions it made me love him even more. Really, the character plot and everything is just amazing. ;A;

Guest: Well, here's the Serato finally. xD Technically they appeared in the last chapter, but I don't think the single sniper really counts. ._.

Guest: Haha, I hope I can keep up the interesting…ness… I don't think that's a word… And there are a surprising amount of R27 fanfics out there, especially if you combine the adult Reborn and Reborn categories, but it's still smaller than a lot of the other pairings. *cough1827cough*

Asuna25: I'm sorry I make you feel sad at the end of my chapters! *bows* But at least it's a good sign that I'm making a good story!

pokermaniac039: Ah, thank you! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Ayz283: Haha, I'm always happy to see people enjoying the R27 moments! I hope you continue to enjoy them!


	10. A Fierce Battle

A/N: I'm sorry everyone! I didn't mean for the update to be so slow! But for past however long I haven't even been able to get five minutes on the computer, so I wasn't exactly able to make any progress on my stories. ;A; I tried to make this chapter longer, so hopefully that helps somewhat… OTL And I realized that I've been calling the Serato boss from Tsuna's time Tarasu, which is the wrong villain! His name is actually supposed to be Enrico… *shame*

* * *

Tsuna stood at the doorframe, looking out through the open one at the fight. The enemies, despite their numbers, were clearly starting to get pushed back. Giotto was able to move swiftly using his sky flames, and his hyper intuition clearly told him where to hit to most effectively knock the Serato members out, or at least immobilize them. Reborn was also able to swiftly disarm and stop any members, his aim perfect and his chaos shot giving him a huge advantage, especially when facing a large group of enemies. Currently, the fight was spread throughout the whole front entrance, and Tsuna could even see battles in the forest, showing just how large both famiglia's were, though Tsuna doubted that even this was the whole family for the Vongola or the Serato.

"Well, seems like one of them was hiding."

A voice broke his thoughts, and, blinking, Tsuna realized that three men stood only a couple of meters away from the door.

"Hmm, too young to be an actual Vongola, and look at how scrawny the kid is," another commented with a laugh, and Tsuna felt another stab at his pride yet again. First the sniper, and now them?

"Heh, probably just an errand boy. He wouldn't be able to even throw a punch," the last one added in, a mocking grin on his face, causing Tsuna to glare at him, as he straightened up slightly. Honestly, they wouldn't be able to lay a hand on him after the training he had undergone from Reborn.

"Getting defiant, brat?" the first one asked, a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"Well, he's standing in our way of the mansion, so we might as well beat him either way."

With that, the three men began advancing forwards, and Tsuna backed away, putting on a scared look.

'_Come on, just a little bit further and they won't see us,' _Tsuna uttered in his head, and once they were within the mansion he turned and ran to the left, getting away from the open door.

As he predicted, the three men charged again, and his ears picked up the sound of a gun being drawn and cocked. At the last moment he darted to the side, avoiding the shot aimed at his knee. Digging his foot into the ground, he changed his momentum and shot behind the men, all shocked that the brunette moved so swiftly. One of them gave a small cry of pain as he felt a hand ram into his neck, before he fell to the floor unconscious. The other two stared at surprise, before glaring at Tsuna and both drawing their own guns while Tsuna just stood there smirking.

"I can't throw a punch, eh?" he threw the earlier insult back, further angering the men. They both shot, but Tsuna ducked down and moved forwards again, straightening up near them as he slammed a fist into one of their faces, before ramming his knee into his gut. Giving a final punch to the side of their head, they went down like the first man, and Tsuna turned to last one, a small grin on his face.

'_Reborn, you're starting to turn me into a sadist like you.'_

The last one just stared at him in fear, before turning and sprinting towards the entrance, not something that Tsuna had expected. Worrying that he might report back to his boss or something along those lines, Tsuna ran after him, jumping just as the man reached the door. His knee raised, it hit dead on with the back of his head and slammed the enemy's face into the ground as a finishing move, Tsuna wincing slightly as he heard a crack, no doubt his nose breaking.

Standing up, he found himself now standing outside, a little ways away from the door, and quickly glanced around. Luckily, everyone was too busy fighting to notice the small brunette, and Tsuna let out a sigh of relief, before running back inside and grabbing the first two men. He dragged them out and along the wall, moving them and the third enemy away from the entrance so it wouldn't look like Tsuna had fought them. He hurried back up the few steps, heading towards the door, but froze as he felt the familiar ping in his head.

Turning around, his gaze scanned the area, before he glanced up, his eyes widening in surprise. Hovering there, looking over everything, was a lone man being held aloft by storm flames. His cold gaze scanned over the area with a look of disinterest, not even sparing a glance as one of his men was killed from a stray bullet. His hair was a dark blue, almost black, and fell to his shoulders with his bangs, which were parted in the middle, reaching his chin. He wore a deep blue dress shirt with black pants and shoes, along with a black tie. His cold eyes were a pale blue, and thin glasses framed his face.

He seemed to frown as it was obvious his side was losing, but overall the man didn't seem too worried about the way things were going. Blinking, Tsuna realized that he should hide before he was attacked again, and quickly began moving again, but the moment he did so those blue eyes snapped to his form, looking a little surprised before they narrowed slightly and his mouth thinned to a line.

Tsuna's eyes widened as he lifted a gun, which glowed a faint red before promptly firing a blast of storm flames at him. Tsuna dodged just in time, but lost his balance and landed on the ground with a small wince before quickly sitting up. The attack had stopped the majority of the fight's, the Vongola shocked that someone besides Giotto and the others could use flames at that strength and purity, not just an accidental muddled spark, while the Serato were surprised that he had actually attacked someone, instead of just observing.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you here, Tsunayoshi Sawada," the blue haired male called out, though his voice was a bit flat, taking on a more serious tone, while Tsuna quickly scrambled to his feet, eyes gazing at him warily.

"You're-"

"Domani Rizzo, a current stand in as Lorenzo's right-hand man, since he hadn't chosen one, what with his new position and all. Though I'm sure you've guessed my other identity," he interrupted, adjusting his glasses slightly as flipped his gun around before gripping it securely and firing another shot without warning. Tsuna again managed to dodge, cursing as he had to do it at the last moment to uphold the illusion that he couldn't fight.

"Tsuna!" Giotto called out in surprise, confused as to why the small brunette was being attacked, or even why he was out here in the first place. Most of his guardians mirrored his look, as they glared at the recently named Domani.

"Bastard, why are you attacking Tsuna?" G growled with a glare, but Domani barely even spared him a glance. Anger growing, G was about to move, but halted as a wolf suddenly leapt in front of him. What was really shocking though were the sun flames flowing from its form. G took a step back in surprise at the animal, and quickly glanced around. All kinds of animals with clear signs of different flames were standing in the battlefield now, and he watched as they pushed some of the Vongola members back a distance, leaving a large empty space in front of Tsuna, who still stood on the steps, some of them slightly destroyed from the storm flames.

Soon, the guardians and Giotto were also backed into an area, not attacking yet as they were uncertain of the animals abilities. About five of the larger ones stood directly in front of them, blocking a straight path to Tsuna who had a helpless and rather scared expression on his face. Glancing to the side, Giotto noticed that Reborn was also there, a dark look on his face as a murderous aura radiated off of him. Tsuna seemed to notice, and sent him a slightly strained, reassuring smile, but soon had to dodge another blast with a squeak. Growling in aggravation, Reborn turned a fierce glare to Domani.

"Unless you want to be pierced by about 50 bullets Domani, I suggest you stop attacking Tsuna."

The right-hand man shifted his gaze to Reborn, another flash of surprise crossing his eyes, but he kept his face relatively blank.

"Even the Reborn is here? I didn't think you'd take this seriously enough to come yourself. Guess you don't trust your student," he replied. "Besides, I don't suggest attacking me. Unless you really want to guarantee Tsunayoshi's death," he retorted, sending another blast to the frightened brunette to stress his point, and Reborn's glare just turned darker.

Tsuna sighed mentally. Yes, he was slightly scared, but it was irritating having to make it seem so much worse. After all, normal, non-combat trained people would be quite terrified at this point. The acting was getting quite annoying though. He was rather confident that he could dodge most of Domani's attacks, seeing as he had to avoid Reborn's. Bullets are a lot harder to see than bright red flames on top of everything. Still, he was rather surprised to see how murderous Reborn looked, as he rarely saw the hitman get angry, let alone have such a strong killing intent. He always had a strong grip on his emotions, no matter the situation. Reborn's voice broke him out of his thoughts though.

"Tsuna, you can dodge normally. There's no point in this mission if you get killed," he stated calmly, though his eyes were anything but.

Tsuna opened his mouth to protest, but stopped as the fifth round was fired. He easily flipped backwards out of the way, the blast just destroying some more stairs. He turned his gaze back to Domani as he raised his free hand.

"Resume the fight, and don't hold back with the box weapons," he ordered, and within moments the Serato had complied, starting up the battle again. The Vongola had to defend again, but they were struggling as the animals were added to the Serato's strength and numbers now.

'_So they have brought back future technology, futuristic even in my time,'_ Tsuna thought grimly, but couldn't get much more thinking done as Domani landed in Tsuna's small clearing, storm flames extinguishing as he fully ignored the yells and cries around him. Tsuna could see Reborn, Giotto, and the others struggling as a large group of box animals attacked them, as well as some of the more skilled Serato members, a large focus being put on Reborn, to the point where even he was having some trouble. In other words, Tsuna was on his own.

"Well, shall see what strength you had to take down my boss, Tsunayoshi?" Domani asked, but didn't wait for an answer before breaking into his own fight. Tsuna quickly ducked and dodged, barely avoiding the punches and kicks aimed at him, the blue-haired man actually quite proficient at hand-to-hand-combat. Tsuna flinched a bit as a punch grazed along his cheek, close to landing a solid hit.

'_This isn't good…' _he thought to himself, as he quickly evaded another hit. Domani was more skilled than he had thought.

* * *

Giotto blocked another blast of flames from one of the strange animals, before quickly freezing it with his zero point breakthrough. He sighed, glancing around to see that though the others were also taking down the animals, more seemed to keep popping up out of nowhere. Reborn especially was a force to be reckoned with, what with the speed he was taking out people and animals. His eyes though were focused on Tsuna's location, and Giotto could see he was clearly worried about the small brunette.

Glancing over, Giotto still couldn't help but feel surprised as Tsuna expertly dodged the attacks sent at him, a focused look on his face. He most definitely wasn't expecting anyone like the clumsy teen to be able to move so swiftly and efficiently. It also raised doubts though. If Tsuna was hiding this, then what other secrets did he have?

* * *

"Why do you only dodge, Tsunayoshi? Enrico(1) wouldn't have been defeated by someone who can't fight," Domani commented, his eyes narrowing slightly from behind his glasses. Tsuna of course didn't reply, only continuing with his movements. However, Domani seemed to be working everything out in his head, and suddenly a small glint was in his eyes as he seemed to reach a conclusion.

"Ah, don't tell me. You're hiding who you are from the Vongola, aren't you?" he concluded, rather loudly as he stopped his advances. Tsuna's face showed slight panic for a moment before he hid it again, but it was enough to let Domani confirm his suspicions. Tsuna noticed that the first generation guardians were sending surprised and wary looks towards him, as they evidently heard the blue-haired mans words.

"Hah, so that's it. Decimo is forced to hide everything in order to avoid problems," he smirked slightly, before drawing out his gun again. Tsuna's eyes widened as he quickly started moving again, Domani sending large amounts of storm flames his way. He could tell it would be bad to get caught with one of those, as the ground was left corroding away slightly from the storm flame's property of destruction. Domani merely chuckled lightly, before drawing out another gun as they both began glowing. Enrico's right-hand man ignited storm flames on his shoes again, swiftly rising, before giving a grin to Tsuna and releasing a large blast from both of them.

Everything seemed to slow down in that moment. The flame blast was easily as big as one of Xanxus's larger shots. Tsuna knew he wouldn't be able to dodge a blast that size in time, and taking the hit would only end badly if he had to fight afterwards, leaving no choice but to use his dying will flame. Reaching into his pockets, he grabbed the case, popping the lid and taking out two pills. Taking a deep breath, he raised them to his mouth, but froze as a figure darted in front of him, arms raised as he took a defensive stance and only sparing a small smirk to brunette before the flames hit. Tsuna felt his body freeze as his heart painfully clenched, and he let out a panicked yell.

"Reborn!"

* * *

Tsuna coughed as the dust and dirt that had been picked up finally settled, but his eyes quickly grew in horror.

In front of him still stood Reborn, but his left hand was clasped over his other arm, blood flowing from it and burns lacing the skin. His right leg seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage as well, and was in the same shape as his arm, which wasn't very good. Reborn collapsed onto one knee, his one leg not enough to hold him after the attack, and more wounds were littered his skin, most bleeding as well. Even as he watched, Tsuna could see a bit of the red flames flowing into Reborn's injuries, causing the hitman to wince in pain as the attacked the more vulnerable flesh, flowing through his system.

"R-Reborn!" Tsuna called out again, his eyes watering, and quickly scrambled towards hit tutor, but was stopped by a gunshot, forcing him back again.

"It seems the great mafia tutor took the hit for his student, huh?" Domani drawled, placing the normal gun away again. Tsuna's wide eyes stared at him, before they narrowed into a fierce glare that could rival even Hibari's. He felt anger rush through his veins, his tears turning into ones driven by that same emotion.

"Ah, are you finally going to get serious, Decimo?" he asked, but in reply Tsuna dashed forwards, fist raised. Domani easily caught it, but Tsuna merely swiped his leg sideways, Domani jumping back a bit to avoid getting tripped. Tsuna stepped forwards for another attack, Domani once again blocking it, but the brunette kept up his pace, both at odds with each other.

Tsuna could feel his emotions fuelling his movements, giving them speed and strength. He knew that this could easily lead to mistakes, as Reborn had taught him, but he couldn't help it. Reborn was injured, in pain and bleeding, because of this man. Storm flames were still attacking him, doing who knows what else, and Domani just had this blank expression on his face, as if he couldn't care less about what happened to the raven-haired man, or how much he was suffering. The worst part was that was probably the case.

These thoughts only encouraged Tsuna's attacks, as he swiftly exchanged blows with the other. They were quickly moving around the clearing, some of the other fights having to move back to avoid being caught in the middle of theirs. Domani was watching Tsuna with calculating eyes, before he suddenly adjusted his foot, causing Tsuna to stumble as his leg collided with the others.

With the small jerk forwards, it threw off his attacks, and Domani lifted the same leg to hit Tsuna right in the chest. Forcing the brunette to jerk upwards again, he rammed a strong fist into Tsuna's gut, the brunette coughing as the air was forced out of him, before a roundhouse kick was delivered to the same area. Tsuna felt the force send him sprawling backwards, and he landed heavily on the hard ground. He coughed as he gasped for breath, his chest and stomach killing him as they ached with each shaky breath.

Domani walked calmly over to him, placing a foot on his chest before placing a harsh amount of weight on it, causing pain to spring up in Tsuna again, his eyes clenching shut for a bit before he opened them again, seeing Domani leaning down.

"I'd love to continue Decimo, but this fight won't be much fun currently. Emotions just get in the way, after all. You should take after Reborn and lock them away," Domani sneered, digging his foot in a bit more, before taking it off. "I suggest helping out your precious Vongola," he finished, before leaping back and taking to the air again. Tsuna slowly sat up, still coughing a bit and gasping for his breath, but he shakily rose, pain flaring up again. Above him Domani pulled out a book before starting to scribble out notes in it. Tsuna wanted to fight still, but he knew as well as the other that he would be no match in his current state.

With a quick glance around, he realized that the Vongola really did need help. Even with Giotto and the others fully focused on the fight, they had no experience against box weapons, which was a severe disadvantage, and it was basically impossible to take them out if you couldn't use flames, which was almost the whole of the Vongola. Tsuna knew better than to go into hyper dying will mode to get rid of the creatures, but that didn't mean he still couldn't help the others against them. Pulling out his Vongola gear, he made sure no one could see it as he cupped it in his hands.

"Natsu, I need you to take care of the box weapons. Don't indicate knowing me in any way, alright?" Tsuna murmured, and he heard a small sound from the ring, indicating that Natsu understood. With a small flash that Tsuna was able to conceal, Natsu materialized a few feet away from him, not even glancing at Tsuna before rushing in.

Tsuna trusted Natsu to be okay on his own, and turned to the mafia men who were slowly heading towards him and Reborn. He could still feel painful throbs in his chest and stomach, but he could easily force himself to keep going. His conviction was furthered as Reborn was in no shape to fight without hurting himself, so he took a defensive stance in front of Reborn as his own battle started.

* * *

Natsu quickly made his way over to where Giotto and the other's stood, feeling a pull to them as they were similar to Tsuna and his guardians, and they also seemed to have the most box animals surrounding them.

* * *

Giotto tensed as he saw a small lion cub running forwards, but instead of attacking, he ran right past him, causing the blonde to blink in surprise. He saw the cub take up a stance in front of three of the strange animals that were giving G difficulties, a low growl rumbling in it's throat before it opened it's jaws and let out a loud roar. The sound waves passed over the animals, and both G's and Giotto's eyes widened as stone raced over the animals, petrifying them. With a shot from G to each of them, the now stone animals smashed into pieces, crumbling to the ground.

Without missing a beat, the lion cub quickly moved over to the other animals attacking the rest of the family, petrifying them progressively. Even when another box weapon came out to replace an old one, the cub would roar again, quickly eliminating the advantage the Serato had.

From above, Domani observed everything, watching in interest as the Vongola took the lead in the battle again. He scribbled some notes down in a book he held, before snapping it closed and glancing at Tsuna again, who, despite the obvious pain was holding up well against his enemies. It seems Reborn's training wasn't for nothing. Blinking once, he turned back to the members he was currently in charge of.

"Everyone, we have enough information and we're losing the battle anyways. Head back to the base!" he called out, and the men immediately complied, quickly backing towards the entrance and running. A few Vongola started to go after them, shooting at the retreating backs, but they were halted by the few box animals that were still left. Luckily the weapons retreated as soon as there was enough distance between the two famiglias, instead of attacking anyone.

* * *

Tsuna panted heavily as the battle finally ended, his wounds aching slightly. Though they might not have looked that bad, Domani was not weak in any sense, and he had a few close calls during the more recent fight. It was mostly grazes with knives or bullets, so all that was left were shallow cuts, but they still stung quite a bit. His brain snapped back to Reborn though, and he quickly spun around.

His tutor was still kneeling at least, which Tsuna hoped was a good sign, and coal black eyes watched him from beneath his fedora. He kneeled in front of the older male, concern and worry taking over.

"R-Rebor-!" Tsuna started, but was cut off when a mallet collided with his head, courtesy of Leon.

"Baka-Tsuna, I never said to fight," Reborn rasped, a weary smirk on his face as Tsuna stared in disbelief at his tutor.

"B-but-! Y-you're-!" he started, choking up slightly as he took in Reborn's wounds. He was cut off though when Reborn reached forwards and pulled him into his chest, hugging him securely.

"Fine, Dame-Tsuna. I countered the storm flames with my own sun ones to stop their progression, and they also healed me slightly. I already told you before. I won't die from something like this," he assured with a rare smile on his face, hidden from everyone as his face was hidden in spiky brown locks.

"I'm glad you're okay, Reborn," Tsuna finally replied, before tightly hugging the hitman back. Reborn hissed in slight pain from the grip, prompting the younger male to quickly let go, a sheepish look on his face.

Knuckle came and crouched beside Reborn, looking over his injuries quickly.

"They're not too bad, nothing a little bit of medical treatment can't take care of. They'll heal with time, and will be easily dealt with pretty soon with the use of some sun flames, though I don't advise using your right arm or leg too much for a while," he informed them, and Reborn mutely nodded, not bothering to mention that his own sun flames were already working to heal him. That probably wouldn't go over to well.

Knowing that Reborn would be okay, Tsuna finally let himself relax, and straightened up again as he surveyed the area. It was in shambles. The ground was destroyed from scuffles and flames, as well as ridden with bullet holes and even some blood from multiple injuries. The outer walls of the mansion were slightly damaged as well, but the small set of stairs leading to the entrance definitely had the brunt of the damage, as they were almost completely destroyed by Domani. Different bodies littered the place as well, most unconscious or just resting thankfully, but Tsuna could feel that there were definitely men and woman who weren't getting up again from both sides.

His attention was brought back as heard steps coming towards them, and looking over he saw Giotto, G, Asari, Lampo, and Daemon walking over. Knuckle had already left to look over the rest of the wounded with some other Vongola trained in the medical field, and Alaude was going through the left over Serato to find which ones he could take back for questioning.

"Are you alright, Tsuna?" Giotto asked, genuine concern in his voice. Tsuna merely nodded.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine soon enough, but Reborn-"

"Will be fine with a bit of rest," the hitman cut in, a slightly annoyed look on his face that he had to keep telling Tsuna this.

"That's a relief then," Asari replied, a small smile on his face, but soon a slightly concerned look grew on his face, the others with a similar expression.

"Tsuna, we didn't know you could fight like that. Why were you hiding it?" Giotto questioned, and Tsuna paled slightly. He hadn't been thinking about the aftermath when he attacked Domani, only the thought of Reborn being injured going through his head at the time.

"And we also have to question why that Serato bastard knew you, and even called you Decimo and spoke of having to hide your identity," G added, and Tsuna could see the wary undertones in his eyes as he paled further. Domani had probably made sure he spoke loud enough that they could hear his every word, raising suspicion again right after Tsuna and Reborn had managed to get rid of a little. Having the enemy saying things like that wouldn't be something that would exactly help. This really wasn't good.

* * *

(1) His name is actually Enrico, but I've accidentally been writing Tarasu's name down instead. Which is really sad. OTL I'll go… edit that now…

* * *

A/N: Well, is this okay? Was I able to somewhat make up for my absence? Really, I'm sorry. OTL And to those who read The Flame That Crosses Dimensions, I'll be working to get the chapter up soon! Thank you to everyone who waited for this chapter though! I'll try to shorten the time before the next update! Thank you to everyone who has favourited, reviewed, and alerted this story as well! I hope you'll still enjoy this! As always, please tell me what you did and didn't like. I'm always looking to improve! Until next chapter though, ciao~!

xXHalfPrinceXx: Haha, thanks. I was hoping to pull off some fluff. X3

BrokenBlackCat: Despite Reborn's personality, I find their pairing way too fluffy to avoid it. Ah, and I'll see about the poll. I'm still not certain.

fionlao: First gen, Tsuna, and Reborn certainly are strong, though they weren't able to finish it quite so quick due to the box animals. Tsuna managed to hide his main skills at least though. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Soul Vrazy: Haha, indeed this will be R27. :3 I love the pairing. X3

WinterGuardianAngel24: Ah, sorry about that! I just can't help it! I had been planning to cut this chapter at the part where Tsuna yells Reborn's name after he had taken the hit, but the chapter was too short after the long break, so I didn't get to do another cliffhanger… I feel like that may be a good thing.

Final Syai Lunar Generation: I still feel slightly odd with my weird joy in making Tsuna injured. OTL Well, she doesn't but some of the scenes I find are hard to be anything but. Or that's probably just my inner fangirl. And yay for fluffy hugs! X3

Chibi'prince-sama: Haha, thanks! Ah, and perhaps~ Reborn can instantly improve almost any fic I find. Unless it's really terrible. Then even Reborn can't save it…

xxOMGgalxx: Ah, thank you very much!

Lexie-chan94: No fire this time, but at least Natsu made a cameo. :3

R3iga1004: Ah, thanks! I'm just glad I was able to work it in. I can't help but add fluff! And we'll have to see about their return. Tsuna is quite feminine so I couldn't help but add it in again. Yeah, I probably would have fainted if I was him. ._.

Aki Sou: I'm glad you enjoy them. :3 Ah, I'll try to increase fluff moments! I'm still a beginner at romance though. OTL And they'll get to that point eventually. -w- And really, thank you! I'm still pretty bad at editing as well.

Rock Buddy: At least I'm able to pull of cuteness! Haha, hope you enjoyed the fight!

Ayz283: Sorry about that! D: At least I didn't cut this chapter where I had been planning, which was at Tsuna yelling Reborn's name. And this time you get Reborn hugging Tsuna. X3

Yuu3: Vindice will appear eventually. Haha, the cheer was nice either way! And I tried not to make Reborn too violent, but not completely.

: Yes, finally. :3 Thanks! And he used a few, but still not all.

BloodyDarkNaruto: Ah, thanks! And that was kind of stalkerish, wasn't it? ._.

pokermaniac039: Haha, glad to see you enjoyed it! Sorry about the slow update though. OTL

hentai18ancilla: Tsuna is rather oblivious, isn't he? And I'm planning to try and incorporate jealousy somehow.

imaimp: Ah, hope you enjoyed it!

Randomchick95: I'm glad I'm able to keep my story unique! I was a bit worried about that since there are quite a few others. ^^'

Alia Inverse: Chapter 7: Ah, I'm happy I was able to pull that off! I wasn't sure if it was slightly expected or not. I enjoy imagining their faces at that point as well. X3

Chapter 9: I hope the battle turned out okay!

KyuubiLuv: Thanks! :3

TunaSandwich27: Ah, sorry about the late update. OTL

UnfadingPromise: Haha, I hope the update was okay. The romance will be light and not too heavy, but unfortunately there will be pairings. OTL Sorry about that. ;A;


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